August of 76 marked some sort of anniversary for the Cleveland seed. So one day the staff started throwing around ideas for a talent show to celebrate the event; it was one of their more spontaneous moments.
We came up with bunch of acts making fun of druggies. I remember a group of guys singing fifties tunes, cigs rolled up in their sleeves, called the Grease, or something like that. The planning of this event took up a whole rap. I actually remember it as fun. It was like the "before I came to the seed" part of the rap with a sense of humor. Terry chose me to be in the tough chick girl group. Including me was a joke was a joke in itself. I wore a sign that said trainee.
The rehearsal process was the happiest time I spent in the program. We lip-synced Teen Angel and Leader of The Pack. Terry choreographed dance routines that we practiced in the basement or the unbelievably wide hall upstairs. Most importantly I spent less time sitting in raps. It was great, go in, sit down, put up your hand but for just a little while till Terry or someone else calls you out for rehearsal.
Art came up to watch the show. we wore costumes that included jeans (don't know where we got that contraband.) We rubbed dirt on the jeans and t-shirts, I think, someone might have had a leather jacket, we teased up each others hair and put on lots of black eye liner. Waited for our entrance in the parking lot behind the gym-open meeting hall everyone was getting into character, talking trash, giving each other evil looks, pretending to threaten each other and all of a sudden I got scared like I was hanging with these girls on the street?I actually felt truly freaked for a moment. They were, after all, the oldest girls with the toughest pasts and I was the youngest.
The performance however was way fun. We got a big laugh every time we revved our motorcycles-- butts facing the audience. The rest of the show had me laughing all night. I think Suzy did her squishy face, ?Can I come to your birthday party.? routine
Riding home that night, I found that my parents were horrified. My mother said,? you looked just like your old druggy self up there." My father said,? I don't want to see you looking like a druggy." They were clearly-- not pleased!
Still the seed seemed to think it had been funny. We were laughing about it during lunch for days after, photos were passed around.
The next big event was Christmas. This time when the staff brought up the subject of planning a show for open meeting they each repeated the hope that it would be something really classy, " Something Art would enjoy." The tone during the planning of that show was subdued; drastically different from the blowing off steam, tone I so enjoyed during the planning of the Anniversary talent show. When anyone stood up with an idea for a silly act staff seemed shocked that any seedling would suggest such a crude thing when they themselves had tossed out ideas just as silly and crude a mere three months earlier.
The Christmas show was mainly a live nativity acted out by seedlings while a staff member read the story. I also, remember that, this show, my parents liked. On the way home my parents kept talking about how amazing and wonderful it was to see the girl playing Mary looking so pure now in comparison to the hardened look she had when she was a newcomer. "It was like a miracle," my mother said,? you?d never have known it was the same girl.?
It makes me wonder if parents complained about the earlier show. The seed was, after all, in the business of making parents happy.
