Hadestown: A High School Production

Chapter 3: Any Way the Wind Blows

Marie was never one for the arts. Growing up she went to public school, where she excelled in academics, it turns out she was a writer. Her family was constantly moving up and down, from town to town, so she could never get comfortable living in one place at a time.

Since her mother, Jenna, never finished college, she went straight into the workforce and got a minimum-wage job as a waitress. Her father, Daniel, enlisted in the Navy out of high school, but he also wanted an education, so he finished college, and that's when he met Marie's mom.

A few years after they eloped, Jenna got pregnant, and was on her own for a while since her husband was doing his training in Illinois. Before he was set to get shipped to Washington State, Marie was born.

With her father away, it was just Marie and her mom at times. She would get letters from her father, saying how much he wished she could see the places he had been to. He's been overseas for as long as Marie could remember. As a sixteen-year-old girl, her life was tough; she had very little time to make friends and very little time to feel happy.

The only thing that helped was writing. She would write poem after poem in her journal, the one her father got her from Cuba, and she felt safe and protected with every word she wrote.

With her dad finally back from overseas missions the past year, Marie thought that they would finally be able to stay in lovely Washington State. However, Marie's father had gotten a call a couple of months after saying that he had to go back overseas and that he was going to be shipped to Tennessee.

The move was pretty easy on them. The neighbors were nice, especially the next-door neighbors and their son, who seemed to love riding his skateboard around the street. Everything was perfect until the family realized that there was a slight problem. They were having a tough time figuring out where to send Marie for high school. The closest public school was 45 minutes from where they resided.

That's when everything changed one day.

Marie's mom had been driving home from work when she came into contact with car trouble. The car just so happened to stop in front of a not-so-known fine arts school. Even though her daughter wasn't one for the arts, Jenna knew that it was a sign to bring her daughter here, so she ended up doing some digging. One day, when her daughter wasn't home, Jenna went to clean her daughters room and that's when she found it. The journal was sitting on top of the Marie's desk near her lamp and Jenna took a not so long peek inside. After that, Marie was hence enrolled in the White Mountain School of Fine Arts, just in time for the fall semester.

At 8:00, that Monday morning, Marie and her mom entered the fine arts school to meet up with Principal Webb. When they were waiting for him, Marie saw an older women that almost resembled her in a way. She was wearing a brown cardigan, blue rimmed glasses, and had her hair tied up in a ponytail. The woman caught her staring and smiled, then exited towards the double doors.

Marie didn't think anything of the exchange, but little did she know, Leah had heard a rumor about a certain kid with a writer's mind and immediately knew that this kid was going to be someone special in her English department.

Principal Webb led the mother and daughter pairing into his office to give Marie some last minute instructions and greeting before she started her day.

"So Marie, as I can see from your folder here, you have a knack for writing." He said.

"Yes, sir she does, she took the essay requirement test and aced it with flying colors. I heard that she got the highest score possible, too." Marie's mom answered.

Principal Webb smiled at them. "Ahhh yes I heard about that. Getting a five on the essay is a great and highest achievement!"

Marie's mom looked at the principal confused. "Are you sure that five was the highest score? Because I remember my daughter telling me that she got a six."