BROOKLYN PARK experienced its first Olympics on Thursday. There was no television coverage with high-priced commercials, no endorsements for the athletes, and a runner carrying a torch up Hammonds Lane was nowhere to be seen.

Regardless, Zeus himself would have felt at home on the fields of the Brooklyn Park Middle School when the sixth-grade section B pupils took the fields to compete in a series of events in the ancient Greek style.

In the morning, the pupils were welcomed to the games by their teachers, all dressed in togas with wreathes on their heads.

"They got a real kick out of this," said teacher Jan Meaney. "They've seen me in my toga before, but not the others."

Meaney organized the competition as part of the pupil's social studies curriculum.

"We had five teams, each representing a Greek city-state," she said. "Each team had to study their city-state, write a motto for it and create a banner.

"They also had to discover how their city-state behaved at the Olympics. For example, Athens always took the high road, while Sparta would do whatever it took to win."

The pupils did their best to follow the examples of the ancients.

"We had traditional Greek events - discus, javelin, a mini-marathon. The winner of each event was crowned with a laurel leaf," Meaney said. But she added: "Sparta asked if they could adopt the win-at-any-cost attitude, but I said no."

The entire school day was centered on the Olympic theme. For their science class, pupils monitored their heart rates during the warm-up and cool-down process.

Since it was a hot afternoon, the pupils moved inside to complete their math and language arts classes. Here they created a new Olympic game and learned how to put the data into a graph.

While everyone tried to follow the example of the ancients as much as possible, there was one important difference.

"We did wear clothes. In the ancient games, the athletes didn't," Meaney said.

For Meaney, creating projects like this helps make social studies interesting for the pupils.

"When I was a kid I hated social studies. It was open the book, read and do the questions," she said. "When I started teaching social studies I knew that the kids would hate it, because I hated it. So it was a challenge to make it something that they would love.

"If you can make history come alive, then the kids will be hooked," she added. "And we did have a lot of fun."

Improvisational theater

Do or Die Productions Inc. extends an invitation to a mystery.

The improvisational theater company will present A Murderous Production at 8 p.m. Saturday at Chesapeake Center for Creative Arts, 194 Hammonds Lane.

C.J. Crowe, the founder and president of the company, said that the concept behind the company's shows is "that the entire space, including the audience seating, is the stage. The show goes on in and around the audience. The actors interact directly with the audience, so no two audience-members are seeing the same show.

"Audience members can participate, or just sit back and enjoy the show. Either way, it's always good for lots of laughs," she said.

Chesapeake Center volunteer Deborah Wisniewski agreed.

"Before the show begins, the actors mingle with the audience and maybe drop some hints about who did it," she said. "You get to interrogate them, ask questions. The first time I went to one, I really got caught up in it. I actually got into an argument once with one of the characters. And it makes you think. You have to put together all the various clues."

The show will be held in the Center's Studio Theater. Tickets are $12 for members of the Chesapeake Center, and $16 for nonmembers.

Information: 410-636-6597.