BY DON HEPPNER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY MERRI VIRGILIO

Reviews for the Pound Ridge Elementary School's annual "Cabaret Night" started in the beginning of March, and after almost two months, the students had their acts honed to the level of an off-Broadway performance.

The show is performed on the Fox Lane High School stage with a stage crew to assist with the sound and lights that gives the kids' performances a professional touch, according to Laura O'Brien, one of the parents that assisted the students.

"It's for the kids and by the kids," Ms. O'Brien said.

The parents do not get involved to any great degree, and no child is excluded, she said. "There is a preview in front of a few parents," Ms. O'Brien said. "Any child that wants to be in the cabaret just has to show us their performance, and we Might make some`^' suggestions, but the skits are really by the kids."

The acts are diverse and could include a Mozart concerto or a karate demonstration. Ms. O^'Brien said the cabaret has consisted of a bass viola and a violin in other years.

Each year anywhere from 35 to 55 students participate. "We had 33 acts with different kids," Ms. O'Brien said. "We had one group with nine kids."

Some acts this year included interpretive dancing, break dancing, and poetry reading.

Kirsten Zarras lived in Bedford before moving to Pound Ridge. "My children went to the Bedford Hills Elementary School, and they had an event there called `Fun Night,"' she said. "It was the same as a cabaret night."

When the Zarras family moved to Pound Ridge, Ms. Zarras made an effort through the PTO to have a cabaret night in PRES. "They already had a fun night that included a barbecue and things, so it took me a couple of years to get them to do a cabaret night," she said.

Another parent moved from Bedford to Pound Ridge, Alexis Myonis, and she joined Ms. Zarras in the crusade for a cabaret night, since she was familiar with the concept. "We put the first cabaret show together," Ms. Zarras said.

To Ms. Zarras, the need for the show is obvious. "I don't think kids have a lot of venues to do things like this," she said.

A student taking piano lessons might have only one event to show off what has been learned. Cabaret night provides a second venue to show off talent. "Schools don't do plays anymore , and I think this is a great opportunity for the kids to get out and do something that is meaningful to them," she said.

Ms. Zarras said people look at the kids differently because a talent is recognized in the students that the parents and other students didn't know was within the kids..