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Sarah Matzdorf stood frozen as the sound of a car wreck and a wailing ambulance filled her living room. And then, in a quiet voice, the 14-year-old Naperville girl spoke the words she had spent weeks trying to memorize.
"My sister and her two friends are still together. Their graves are side by side," Sarah recited. "On the back of my sister's tombstone are these words: `Sure have a pretty smile, sure has been a while, since we've felt your touch, you've got the sweetest way, we think about you every day, we miss you so much.' "
Sarah was rehearsing "Forever Sixteen," a 14-minute performance based on the lives and deaths of three Waubonsie Valley High School juniors--including Sarah's sister, Allison Matzdorf--who were killed Oct. 17, 1997, after their car was broadsided by a drunken driver.
Sarah will make her theatrical debut in the play Wednesday at a legislative luncheon in Springfield in a performance designed to sway lawmakers who this spring will consider a proposal to lengthen prison terms for drunken drivers.
The Schaumburg-based advocacy group Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists and DuPage County State's Atty. Joseph Birkett drafted the so-called JAJ bill--using the first initials of the girls' names--which would allow judges to sentence drunken drivers to terms of up to 30 years if more than one person is killed in the crash. Currently the maximum is 15 years.
The driver of the car that killed the Waubonsie teenagers, Randy Visor, was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
The play was conceived by the founder of MWAH!, or Messages Which Are Hopeful, a performing-arts troupe run by a DuPage County social worker that focuses on issues facing youths, from teen pregnancy and drugs to gangs and suicide. The play will be performed by Sarah and three other members of the MWAH! troupe, made up of more than a dozen teenagers from the Chicago area, including some who have been in trouble themselves.
Hundreds of people are expected at the luncheon at a Springfield hotel, including keynote speaker Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood. The luncheon is being hosted by the Chicago Area Project, a social service agency that offers assistance to troubled youths.
Sarah acknowledged she was nervous. She said she has never performed anything on stage, and she does not want to forget her lines or sing out of key.
But, mostly, she doesn't want to cry.
"The first time I read the script, I started crying," she said. "Now, when I read it, I just try to look at them as words and not think about what they mean," said Sarah, an 8th grader at Hill Middle School.
Sarah's parents, Pat and Peggy Matzdorf, who also have a son who was away at college when Allison died, found it tougher to distance themselves from the impact of the performance. MWAH! has been rehearsing at the Matzdorfs' home over the past month, and Peggy Matzdorf had difficulty when the group first practiced with microphones and a professional sound system.
The crash sound effects seemed almost unbearably loud in the tiny space, and Peggy slumped and covered her eyes.
"This is really tough. It's taken us so long to heal," she said. "But I think it's great she agreed to do this. It's going to help (Sarah) heal."
Ray Moffitt, the founder and director of MWAH!, wanted to create a piece based on a local drunken-driving tragedy. And he knew the piece would be all the more powerful if a young family member was involved.
Still, the impact of that 1997 accident was powerful enough. In some ways, the community is still mourning the crash that killed the three friends-- Allison Matzdorf, Jenni Linn Anderson and Jennifer Roberts--as well as Ann Pryor, a 27-year-old mother of three who was a passenger in the drunken driver's car.
A scholarship fund was created to honor the three girls, and donations from fundraisers still pour in. Another group proposed naming a new elementary school in Indian Prairie District 204 after the girls.
The crafting of the bill led to the idea of the Springfield performance, and Patricia Larson, the state director of victim services for the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, suggested that Moffitt contact the Matzdorfs and ask Sarah to be involved.
Larson knew the family and knew that Sarah had been devastated by the loss of a sister whom she loved and admired deeply.
"Sarah has finally found something where she can release her emotions . . . and honor her sister," Larson said. "And we need to send a strong message about this issue over and over again."
The show opens as Sarah walks out and is introduced by troupe member Jeannie Wyse of Villa Park. Behind them is an enlarged photo of Allison's sophomore year photo, a face that bears a striking resemblance to her sister's.
"Almost every morning, Sarah goes into Alli's room and turns on the light," Wyse says. "There's no `Leave me alone,' or `What do you want?' She hears nothing."
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