Behind the Reality Party: A Reality Check on Teen Substance Use

Photo by Iris Smoot/Acorn Newspapers.

Written by Gracie Marcelo, our CLU intern.

When I first heard about the “Reality Party,” I wasn’t sure what to expect. BRITE was looking for teen volunteers to help bring this prevention event to life for parents, and it also counted toward community service hours. Since BRITE focuses on teen substance abuse awareness, I figured it would be related — but I didn’t realize how immersive or intense it would be.

The Reality Party is an interactive prevention event designed for parents and caregivers, so the audience is not teens. The goal is to give adults a realistic look at the kinds of risky situations teens may face at parties and to encourage meaningful conversations at home about safety, communication, and family expectations. Each event includes a debrief discussion where parents reflect on what they saw and explore healthy ways to guide and protect their teens.

I signed up with my younger brother, and we were both new to the experience. Once we arrived and received our scripts, it became clear how serious the topics were: overdrinking, peer pressure, misuse of drugs like Xanax, violence, and sexual assault. Immediately, I felt the pressure of bringing these intense, real topics to life. 

BRITE provided prop beer bottles, liquor bottles, pills, drugs, and party games to recreate a realistic teen party environment. With about nine volunteer actors, we transformed the living room, kitchen, upstairs, and backyard into a space that felt like a real party. Everyone took their roles seriously, and it was inspiring to see how committed each teen volunteer was to portraying these difficult realities.

The experience unfolded in a series of scenes, each revealing a layer of the dangers teens face. It began in the living room, where cast members named the different ways teens gain access to drugs and alcohol, such as through social media, word of mouth, and messaging apps. In the dining room, the focus shifted to drinking games and how they can lead to overconsumption. The kitchen scene explored how teens obtain substances, whether through fake IDs, stealing from parents, or raiding medicine cabinets at friends’ houses.

Outside in the backyard, parents watched teens doing keg stands and playing beer pong. This is where the tone darkened: a couple’s argument escalated into physical violence, and a fight broke out. Back inside, a girl was shown passed out, and another was coerced into leaving with an older man. Upstairs, teens recited the consequences of substance use like unwanted sexual acts, assaults, teen pregnancies, and more.

The final scene brought everyone back to the living room, where a parent claimed everything was safe because they took the teens’ car keys. A police officer arrived, threatening a citation, and a teen burst in, yelling that someone wasn’t breathing. The cast ended with a powerful plea: “Make it stop.”

This experience opened my eyes to how easily teens can fall into dangerous situations and how often these behaviors are normalized. Volunteering with BRITE showed me that teens have the power to shift the culture and raise awareness. I’m grateful to have participated and hopeful that more people will join in the future.

Only we have the power to change the narrative. We have the power to make it stop.