It was a big teen drinking party.

A party with parental permission.

In the kitchen, teens were swigging beer from cans and guzzling whiskey from bottles.

Some were smoking pot.

In the living room, a girl was passed out on the floor with a half-empty whisky bottle in her hand. An older man, with a self-admitted taste for younger girls, caressed her cheek as he smiled down at her.

In reality, the drinking party was a staged event known as a Reality Party, with actors playing the roles of underage drinkers.

It was sponsored by the Red Rock West Area Prevention Resource Center of Yukon.

“Chickasha Schools helped put this together. The high school kids said this is exactly how it really is,” said Holly Howard of the APRC.

Said Ashley Cline, director of Red Rock APRC: “Reality parties like this are happening all over the state. We are sponsoring 20 or so Reality Parties across the state to bring awareness of the Social Host Law and underage drinking and to show it’s not just here in town; it’s across the state.”

Community leaders are invited to Reality Parties so they can get an idea of what goes on in their own back yards with the hope of encouraging towns and cities to enact social host laws.

Chickasha is the only city in Grady County that has a social host law in place.

There are only 78 other cities across the state with similar laws.



Parent Reaction

Parents are invited to come to the Reality Parties see just what their own teens may be doing.

Some parents looked shell-shocked as they left the party, having had no idea what goes on at today’s teen parties.

“I guess I’m out of the loop,” said one parent, who added that she was glad her daughter is 34 years old.

Said another shocked mother: “That should be a documentary and it should be shown in every junior high and high school.”

“I got goosebumps,” said yet another.

After learning about a California group that sponsors similar Reality Parties, Cline contacted them and went to California for training, bringing home a party “script” that the group uses depicting what goes on at teen drinking parties.

She gave the script to local high school and college students and asked if the story lines reflected real parties.

“They all agreed it was very realistic and, for the most part, it was right on,” Cline said.

Cline said Red Rock tweaked the script a bit and gave it to the USAO drama students who would play the roles of partying teens.

Chickasha’s Reality Party took place in the Alumni House on the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma campus.

Students received their scripts the morning of the event and had until that afternoon to memorize them.

“I have been thrilled about how well they’ve done it,” Cline said.

During 30-minute tours, scenes played out in different rooms of the house.

A tour guide lead the visitors through the rooms and gave a short synopsis of what was taking place.

And what was taking place my be shocking to many parents.

One of the most frightful elements of the party took place in an upstairs bedroom where several teens were sitting in the dark holding candles.

They were grieving over the things they had done while drunk.

“I had sex with my best friend’s girlfriend,” one young man said. “And I didn’t even know it.”

One girl said: “If we get drunk and have sex, it’s not our fault, so we get drunk.”

“I don’t like what I do, but the guys expect it and I guess the girls do, too,” said another.

One girls sobbed while saying, “I said no...I said no...I said no...” She was lying on the floor in a fetal position.

“I thought we’d be a couple afterward,” said yet another girl.



Social Law

Finally, downstairs there was a knock on the door.

It was the police.

The parent who was hosting the party answered the door and Chickasha Assistant Police Chief Major Elip Moore entered the room.

Moore informed the woman about Chickasha’s social host law and told her there is a $138 fine for hosting a party where underage drinking is allowed.

“This is something we take very seriously,” Moore said. “The social host law doesn’t have big enough teeth yet.”

While the fine for hosting the party is $138, if underage drinkers drive away from the party and are involved in an accident, the host parent is also responsible for that. They can also face other charges as well.

When the police arrive at a teen drinking party, they do not simply write a few tickets and leave, Moore said. Instead, they contact every parent to come and pick up their child.

“We don’t just let them drive off; if we did that, we’d become part of the problem,” Moore said.

Cline said her organization has had a lot of support from Grady County and law enforcement.

“People think this is not happening, but it really is happening,” Cline said. “It really brings it home having a real police officer come to the door.”