Grounded in real stories of substance use disorder and recovery, Painless: The Opioid Musical is a free program that uses the arts to help students build empathy, reduce stigma, and better understand the real-world impact of opioids on individuals, families, and communities. Painless offers an impactful approach to prevention that encourages reflection, dialogue, and informed decision-making.
“I never thought that I would be sitting in a room learning about drugs and actually caring to listen.”
Painless: The Opioid Musical was born from real stories. In 2018, members of Face Addiction Now (formerly Families Against Narcotics) shared personal experiences that were transformed into powerful songs at the heart of the show. Written by Jacob Ryan Smith, with contributions from Peter Scattini and Noah Kieserman, the musical premiered in 2019 and reached students in 2022.
Painless has since been featured on The Today Show spotlighting its impact as a creative and meaningful way to engage teens in conversations about opioids.
Bring Painless: The Opioid Musical to your community and share these stories. Schools can request a live performance and resources designed to engage students, including teacher education, Michigan Model for Health module support, cast album with lyric sheet, and toolkit. These resources will help educators plan discussion topics before and after seeing the musical, give them resources to help them learn more about the opioid epidemic, and give them the tools to implement Painless in their school.
Request a Performance for Your SchoolFor me, I was fully engaged the entire time. From the moment they started singing I was like, whoa… okay this is actually gonna be really good.
Painless is now available for licensing! This is a no cost license, and the musical can be performed solely for non-commercial purposes. Materials available under the license include sheet music, instrumental tracks, production instructions, marketing resources, and educational tools.
Learn More About Licensing Painless
Inspired by true stories of opioid addiction and recovery, Painless: The Opioid Musical was developed to engage high school students and educate them about opioid use disorder. As a part of the Opioid Use Case for the Precision Health Initiative, this program is a collaboration between OPEN, the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, & Dance, School of Nursing, and School of Public Health. Painless was written by Jacob Ryan Smith, a graduate of the University of Michigan SMTD.
The “Boy in the Box” music video introduces *Painless*, a haunting reflection on memory, identity, and loss—based on a true story—and created through a collaboration between OPEN and the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, & Dance, University of Michigan School of Nursing, and University of Michigan School of Public Health. Written by Jacob Ryan Smith, the song traces a deeply personal journey through fragments of the past, confronting the painful distance between who we were and who we’ve become.
Painless tours across Michigan, with performances in more than 20 communities in all corners of the state.
Hearing the music really helped me connect with the topic and the stories and the people so much.
OPEN partners with musical theatre students at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance to produce and perform Painless. Our talented Painless alumni can be seen on stage throughout the world!
| Headshot | Name | Time as Painless Cast/Crew | Where are they now? |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Diego Rodriguez | 2022 - 2023 | - Jamie Lloyd’s SUNSET BLVD. on Broadway with Nicole Scherzinger (Artie Green, Joe Gillis understudy) Jamie LLoyd’s - EVITA at the London Palladium with Rachel Zegler (Che) - American Heart in WWI: A Carnegie Hall Tribute aired on PBS (Quinten Roosevelt & Nick Caraway) |
 | Kate Louissaint | 2023 | - A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical" as Original Broadway Cast (Ensemble, Lucille Wilson understudy) - Picnic at Hanging Rock Off-Broadway (Marion, Dance Captain) - "Wonderful Town" at New York City Center Encores! (Featured Tap Dancer) - She is proud to have worked on New Works post-grad like Begin Again, Saint Sebastian, Built for This, and Lighthouse. |
 | Sutton Kaylor | 2023 - 2025 | - The Outsiders on Broadway (Sodapop Curtis) |
 | Kate Cummings | 2023 | - Mamma Mia on North American Tour (Ensemble, Sophie understudy) |
 | Oliver Boomer | 2024 - 2025 | - Performing in a new musical workshop produced by Gideon Theatricals |
| Lleyton Allen | 2024 | ||
| Nile Andah | 2023-2024 | ||
| Zoli (Zoltan) Berencsi | 2024-2025 | ||
| Zan Berube | 2019 | ||
| Andy Blatt | 2023-2025 | ||
| Archie Bracegirdle | 2025 | ||
| Alyssa Carol | 2019, 2022 | ||
| Mari (Mariangeli) Collado | 2024 | ||
| Ian Coursey | 2023 | ||
| Brendan Dallaire | 2022-2024 | ||
| Chloe Deutschman | 2024-2025 | ||
| Maddie Dick | 2023-2025 | ||
| Logan Dilley | 2025 | ||
| Faith Dolan | 2025 | ||
| Aliyah Douglas | 2025 | ||
| Hoke Faser | 2019 | ||
| Arin Francis | 2023-2024 | ||
| Sarita Gankin | 2025 | ||
| Audrey Graves | 2023-2024 | ||
| Riley Hahn | 2025 | ||
| Lauryn Hobbs | 2019 | ||
| Rhett Hemingway | 2024-2025 | ||
| Maya Liu | 2022-2025 | ||
| Chad Marge | 2023 | ||
| Caleb McArthur | 2022-2023 | ||
| Devon McCleskey | 2019 | ||
| Elle Michaels | 2025 | ||
| Oluchi Nwaokorie | 2024 | ||
| Sam O’Neill | 2023 | ||
| Gabriella Palminteri | 2023 | ||
| Stephanie Prestage | 2022 | ||
| Lily Rosenberg | 2019 | ||
| Logan Saad | 2022-2023 | ||
| Giancarlo Santiago | 2025 | ||
| Griffin Silva | 2019 | ||
| Chris Tamayo | 2019 | ||
| Cole Thompson | 2019 | ||
| Evan Tylka | 2023-2024 | ||
| Frannie Walton | 2023-2025 |
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Equip educators with everything they need to effectively bring Painless: The Opioid Musical to life.
