Attention, Ellis Middle School sixth graders: there's a lot riding on your performance tonight.

Parents, grandparents, other family and friends will applaud your best effort … no matter what.

But one audience member will be watching the play with a discerning eye.

"The Magical Land of Oz" opens at 7 p.m. tonight in the Ellis Middle School Auditorium and it's reunion of sorts.

The audience member casting the most critical eye upon the stage will be Alyce Ronquist, former Ellis Middle School English teacher and drama coach.

She will be measuring not the performance, but that of the director.

Once upon a time, Ronquist directed the same play and the play's director, Erin Schoen, was a munchkin.

"Mrs. Ronquist was a very nurturing teacher," Schoen said. "She was just great. I would call her one of my favorite teachers ever."

Schoen, the daughter of John and Joan O'Rourke, Austin, went on to act in Austin High School, Matchbox Children's Theatre and Summerset Theatre plays before marriage. Children and career obligations interrupted her stage career.

"I think one of my favorites was 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' although I also enjoyed 'Toby Tyler's Circus' at Ellis. I played two parts in that one," Schoen said.

The play that started her stage career was "The Magical Land of Oz."

Ronquist retired from teaching in 1987.

Much of her personal collection of curriculum and school play artifacts was destroyed in the devastating EMS fire in 1986.

"I tried to encourage all my students," Ronquist said. "I tried to be nurturing for all of them. When you get sixth grade kids in a stage show, you wonder if it will all work out when the curtain goes up. Then, the curtain goes up and the kids do a wonderful job and you wonder 'Why did I worry?' I'm sure they will do a delightful job tonight just as Erin and her classmates did long ago."

For the nervous sixth grader 22 years ago, it was a chance to prove herself just as it is today for the 90 sixth graders performing in the play.

Schoen is a developmental and cognitive delayed teacher at EMS. She started her work there in February 1999.

A year ago, Schoen directed "Hansel and Gretel" at Neveln Elementary School as a parent-volunteer.

She chose to reprise "The Magical Land of Oz" on the Ellis stage, because "I liked it and thought it would be fun for the kids to do."

EMS students perform two plays each school year: one in November and the other in the spring.

The school's seventh graders saw it for the first time Thursday and the public got to enjoy it Thursday night.

"The kids love it," Schoen said. "They've been working very hard since the first week of October. The only problem came when we had to replace the 'wicked witch of the west' part. I hope Mrs. Ronquist enjoys it," Schoen said.

Coni Nelson is lending her estimable music skills to the fast-paced musical and art instructor John Sullivan, who

has helped make it a visual delight.

Schoen's brother, Steve, did not share his sister's interest in play-acting. For her, it was "just fun" she said and did not, as some say it does, help a shy child to gain confidence.

"Are you kidding?" joked the daughter of a well-known former Austin mayor and college instructor. "The daughter of John O'Rourke was anything but shy."

Tonight after a 22-year hiatus, Schoen returns to the stage -- albeit behind the scenes -- and Ronquist takes a seat in the audience to compare a new generation of sixth-grade actors with another.

"There is no greater joy for a teacher than to see one of your students do well," Ronquist said.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com