Of her early social experiences, Arcade described, "I was perceived to be this girl that everyone had slept with when I was 12 -- no one anyone knew, but they had heard." At age 13, she ran away from home and spent 4 weeks homeless in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. During this time, she was brought to juvenile court and sentenced to two years at the Sacred Heart Academy for Wayward Girls, a reform school run by the semi-cloistered Sister Of The Good Shepherd. It was there that Arcade wrote her first play at age 14. At age 17, Arcade left home and spent the summer of 1967 homeless in Provincetown, Massachusetts, before ultimately moving to New York City.