DATE: Friday, May 16, 1997                  TAG: 9705160675

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B12  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS ,STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   59 lines

PRODUCTION MAKES KIDS ``THINK TWICE'' ABOUT OPERA

The fourth-graders composed the music, wrote the story and lyrics, and built the footlights and sets. Now the Northern Shores Elementary School youngsters are ready to stage their opera, ``Think Twice or Pay the Price.''

Its themes: jealousy and forgiveness - with a little soccer kicked in for good measure.

It's a soap opera created when a little boy loses his position on the soccer team to a new girl in school.

In a spoiled snit, he plots to get her in trouble. She's benched, he plays, and the team loses.

But there is a happy ending. Feeling guilty, he confesses, and she forgives him.

He gets his ``Second Chance,'' the title of one of the songs. Others include ``Quicksand,'' ``Confessions'' and ``Pizza'' - which sounds a bit like a movie chain's food ditty.

Each of the participating fourth-graders applied for roles in the production, and teachers made the choices.

Inspired by the thumbs-up/-thumbs-down style of movie reviewers Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, the children named their operation The Two Thumbs Up Production Company.

Production manager Sara Garrett explained her job this way:

``When they get restless backstage, I try to settle 'em down. If people are out, I fill in for them. Pretty much, I solve all their problems.''

That take-charge attitude, said teacher Lori Mounie, is what got Sara the job.

``I'm not bossy,'' Sara said, ``but I can be if they don't listen to me.''

Overseers Mounie and music teacher Sondra Morgan were trained last summer by the Metropolitan Opera Company - Mounie at Yale, Morgan at Princeton.

They hope to go to Metropolitan Opera headquarters in New York City this summer for advanced training. Both worked on grant requests for the Suffolk production.

Mounie told of what led to the production:

``We looked for things the children relate to . . . and came up with friendship and the idea of giving people a second chance,'' she said.

Only two other Virginia elementary schools are involved in such opera productions - in Blacksburg and Reston.

``Think Twice or Pay the Price'' is supported by The Metropolitan, Virginia Commission for the Arts, Suffolk Education Foundation, Dodge Corp. and G.E. Corp.

The first show is today for the school. On Monday, other elementary school children may see it. The opera will be performed Tuesday night for the PTA.

The children say creating and presenting an opera is not as stuffy as they might have thought.

``It's fun to do,'' Mounie said. ``It turns the ordinary curriculum into one that's full of life.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MICHAEL KESTNER/The Virginian-Pilot

Kasey Alexander, left, Lakesha Butler and Saige Thomas practice for

Northern Shores Elementary School's original musical production

``Think Twice or Pay the Price.'' The plot involves jealousy and

forgiveness.

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