By April Koral

O n a Friday evening, 15 teenagers sat around a long table looking slightly cowed. It was the first night of the weekend program for middle schoolers at Tribeca’s new community center and Bob Townley, who has dreamed of such a center for years, was laying down the rules.

His approach, honed during years as head of Manhattan Youth, which opened this center at 55 Warren Street last month, was part good guy, part drill sergeant.

"We want to make this place your place," he said. "This is your home on Friday and Saturday nights. I suggest you start with 20 minutes of physical fitness so you don’t grow up and look like me," he added, mocking his own hefty figure.

There were many rules, and the group didn’t look happy to hear them. "No jumping. No shouting. No foul language," Townley recited. "No drinks next to computers. Put away games after using them. And no using pool sticks as swords."

The crowd then attacked the six-foot hero sandwich and cups of apple juice. ("No soda," Townley said. "We’re going to eat healthy.")

"Any suggestions on how to make this place better?" Townley asked, as everyone finished up dinner.
"How about dessert?" Ben Daniels piped up.

After they had cleared their plates, it was time to have fun. The group eschewed the stationary bicycles and the shelves filled with Monopoly, Pictionary, checkers and Scrabble, and rushed (but no running, another rule) for the brand new pool and air hockey tables and two computers (where they could play Diablo 2).

After about 45 minutes, some were ready for other distractions. Nathaniel Flagg, 12, a student at St. Anne’s, and his friend Jamie Green, 12, who goes to Village Community School, opened up a brand-new wooden chess set. Lauren Bridges tried the stationary bicycle. Theseus Roche, who will run the program, played Othello with Marley Heit.

Halfway through the night, the center was already receiving high marks from the kids. Zoe Lutz, a Lab Middle School student, fine-tuning her pool strokes, said she would otherwise have been home "doing nothing, being bored or doing homework." Patrick Birde, an Epiphany student, said he would have been "sitting at home, being bored or watching a movie."

Townley plans to expand the dinner repertoire beyond heroes and pizza, and told the teens that eventually they would cook dinner together.

"This won’t just be a hangout," explained Townley, who is planning to add activities such as lessons in computer graphics and robotics. "It will also be a place to learn."

For more information on the middle school Friday and Saturday evening program, call Manhattan Youth at 766-1104.