THE PLAY'S THE THING: CHILDREN MOUNTING PLAY TO HELP SAVE THEIR OWN

Just over two years ago, Chris Palmer looked down at his stomach while taking a shower and noticed that one side was bigger than the other.

He was "a little freaked out," he recalls. After a CAT scan found cancer, his whole family was in shock. "Our minds just went Boom.'"

The family was sent immediately to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. "They told us it is a good hospital," Chris says. "That made us feel better."

Now 12, Chris is cancer-free and chemo-free and rehearsing to play one of the lead roles in a production of the comedy "Wherefore Art Thou, Juliet?", a benefit for St. Jude's.

"Wherefore Art Thou Juliet?" will be presented March 9 and 10 at Centenary Methodist Church Family Life Center, 300 N. Ellis St. The March 9 performance will be a dinner theater with tickets $15. Performances will be presented at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. March 10, with tickets $7 and $9, respectively.

Chris had a football-sized Wilm's tumor, a cancer of the kidney. At St. Jude's, surgeons removed Chris' right kidney and 15 inches of his intestine, and he underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

The first week of treatments was the hardest. "I shouldn't say this, but my puke was green," Chris said.

Seven months after his diagnosis, Chris no longer needed treatments. Now he returns to St. Jude's for checkups every six months.

When director Marty Koeller phoned to ask if Chris wanted to be in the River City Players benefit for St. Jude's, he was eager.

At a rehearsal Tuesday night at the Family Life Center, about half the 15 cast members said they want to be actors and actresses when they grow up. There were only a few shy people in the room. But almost all of them said they wanted to be involved with this production because they know the cause is so good.

"When my brother was having cancer, I was praying a lot that St. Jude's could heal him," said Chris' 10-year-old sister, Jessica.

Chris and Jessica are the children of Cliff and Jeri Palmer of Fruitland.

Said Majhon Phillips, "There is really a need for St. Jude's. I'd like to donate money for organizations like that but I don't have a lot. This is something I can do."

Some of the children have other good reasons to act as well. Jeremy Dillon is the son of Dr. Robert Dillon, a theater professor at Southeast. David Koeller, at 17 the eldest in the production, and Becky Koeller are two of director Marty and her husband Stan Koeller's 10 children.

Others in the cast are Kymberly Shipman, Murielle Wyman, Elizabeth Johnson, Kristen Hinton, Stacy Dohogne, Jennifer Miller, Ben Caughlan, Cricket Shipman, Jory Rapps and Blane Smith.

In "Wherefore Art Thou Juliet?", the new middle school drama coach decides to stage a production of "Romeo and Juliet" the way Shakespeare would have done it -- with an all-male cast. The P.E. teacher decides to compete with an all-girl production. The eventual result is a production in which the guys play all the girl parts and the girls play all the guy parts.

The students in the production are challenging students in other classes to raise money for the annual K103 St. Jude's Radiothon to be held April 26. The winning class will receive free tickets to a performance of "Wherefore Art Thou, Juliet?" All proceeds from the play and from the classes' fund raising will go to St. Jude's Hospital.

For information, phone Koeller at 243-6128 or Kelly Shipman at 204-7388.