NATCHEZ — This opera wasn’t in Latin and it didn’t have any Vikings, but it did have a song about guacamole in a toothpaste tube.

Combining education, imagination, life lessons and fun, the Natchez Festival of Music Educational Outreach Program entertained a group of grade school children from Trinity and Cathedral with an opera called “House.”

“House” is about a magical house — a self-proclaimed “tear in the fabric of the universe” — that can travel space and time, change shapes and colors and can talk.

But House is lonely and wants friends. Five years ago, House landed on Earth and met Amy. Desperate for friendship, House drew Amy inside and away from her husband, Sam.

For five years Amy was trapped in House, and Sam never gave up looking for her.

By virtue of magical blackberry soda and a tube of guacamole, House could keep Sam confused in his search for Amy, hoping that Amy would never be rescued.

But in the meantime, three new people stumbled upon the house and fell in love with living there.

After Sam’s love for Amy trumps all the magic soda and guacamole in the world, he rescued Amy.

House realized his wrongdoing and took comfort in his three new friends, who travel the universe together.

Despite its 40-minute run time, all dialogue sung in operatic fashion, and the set mere planks of wood draped in fabric, the children in the audience were in rapture.

They gasped with scandal when one character called another “hot,” and laughed uproariously when Sam passed out after drinking the blackberry soda.

Musical Director Christian McLeer said one of his main goals in writing “House” was to use everyday, colloquial language that children cannot only be familiar with but language that draws them in.

Performer Candice Hoyes said one of the pitfalls of modern day opera is that it can be too archaic and the audience can get lost.

McLeer said he tries to maintain the foundation of opera, but he makes it accessible for a more modern audience.

After the performance, the children asked the performers and McLeer many questions — some personal, like the performers birthdays, and others about the performance itself, like whether House was good or evil.

For nearly all of the children, by a show of hands, it wasn’t their first go-around with a musical and stage performance. Almost all of them said they had already seen an opera before.

And that’s something Educational Outreach Program Chairman Sara Blackburn said she takes delight in.

“They really look forward to it from year to year,” she said of the children.

Musical arts programs in schools don’t give them the experience acquired through the Natchez Festival of Music, she said.

Being able to educate and diversify children in the musical arena was the brainchild of her husband and founder of the music festival, David Blackburn, who died last year.

Sara Blackburn said for the first 10 years of the festival’s overall 19 years, the education portion of the festival was always present, but not as strong as it is now.

She said for the past nine years, between 11,000 and 17,000 children are treated to a free performance through the program.

“We love doing it,” she said. “It’s a real joy.”

The performers will hit the road after completing the last of their 10 performances of “House” in Natchez.

“House” will be performed in schools in Meadville, Brookhaven, Port Gibson, McComb, Tylertown and Ferriday.

The performers will then return to Natchez to participate in the rest of the music festival.