I asked the persons at the reunion of the alternative school two weeks ago what they remembered best.
The course I called Death and Dying
Getting slapped in the facet a school board meeting, said our most senior teacher.
The day John Lennon died and all I could think about was to have the school open and to be with people and talk about how important he was in our lives. This from the only student who ever paid the district for allowing him to go to the school as he did not live in the district. Shortly thereafter the Board ruled not to allow that any more.
A Camping trip
These were among the most memorable.
For me: the theatre of course. Doris leaping off the stage in A Chord. The african american with similar skin tone to the actress — the one enacting a scene of sorrow on the stage and the older woman just beyond her and visible the spotlight in a first row seat crying as it unfolded. A multi-generational angst. The strange final play which began with 15 minutes of wordless images and stagecraft as the earth dies and the main characters enter an obviously phony rocket ship on the proscenium which then takes off amid shrieks of musical sounds, blacklights, smoke and images of death everywhere, as the music crescendos. Silence. The rocket descends and one by one the characters emerge to begin their lives in another world. (This performed 40 years ago somehow seems even more relevant today.)
For those who attended the school in one way or another — feel free to add your memory in the comments. ken
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