Going Out for enlightening drama
Secret Garden blooms on Voorheesville stage

By Zach Simeone

VOORHEESVILLE — It’s nearing 5 p.m. The performing arts center at the Voorheesville high school is filled with the low hum of the Dionysians’ sweeping vocal warm-ups. These students have a story to tell.

Starting on March 28, players at Clayton A. Bouton High School will be performing The Secret Garden, an award-winning musical adapted from the 1909 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

“It’s remarkable how many talented kids are on the cast,” said Molly Spooner, director of the show. She teaches music at the high school. “They’ve come so far in such a short amount of time.” The characters and music are very complicated, she said.

“To me, this show is about how one singular event, person, or place can transform life for so many,” said the director. Such events have lulled many of the characters into what she calls an “emotional hibernation,

because they don’t know how to lean on one another for warmth and love.”

Young Mary Lennox, born in India to wealthy parents, has been orphaned and sent to Misselthwaite Manor, an isolated country house in Yorkshire, England. There, she finds Archibald Craven, her uncle, a widower still grieving the death of his wife a decade before. And she discovers Colin, her uncle’s son, who has been shut away as an invalid.

The play, Spooner said, deals with other themes as well, like children being able to teach adults, and people of lower class having insight to offer. “The adult characters are so emotionally crippled, and it’s the kids who teach them how to move on,” she said. “Another thing you’ll notice is that it’s the servants in the show who are really more grounded.”

Mary learns of a walled secret garden from her chambermaid, Martha, which the children revive, helped by Martha’s brother, Dickon, and the old gardener, Ben Weatherstaff.

The Secret Garden is the second show that Spooner has directed at Voorheesville, the first being Grease. “I feel like there have been few shows here that have been this dark,” she said. “Also, with Grease, there wasn’t a lot of learning involved.”

“We’ve never done a show like this,” said Garrett Wineinger, a student at the high school and performer in the show. “There are just so many things happening in this play.” Wineinger plays Dickon, who befriends Mary and helps her blossom as they work together in the garden.

“It’s an emotional, dark story, but it has its humor,” said Meara McTague, who plays Mary Lennox.

The director has been continually impressed by the ability of her lead actors to overcome the challenges associated with some of the characters. Chloe Siegel, a seventh-grader, is one of three middle-school students on the cast. She plays Colin Craven, the 10-year-old boy who starts as a cripple and ends up walking. “It’s…different,” she said, giggling at the thought of playing a male character.

“One challenge was getting Chris Hammer, an 18-year-old kid in perfect health, to play Archibald Craven,” said Spooner. “The character is a hunchback, and in very poor health.” Craven spends most of his time mourning his deceased wife, Lily, who is present throughout much of the play as a ghost. In the end, seeing his son walk, Craven is at last happy.

Spooner performed in The Secret Garden during her senior year at Bethlehem High School, and couldn’t be more excited to be directing the show, she said. “I think it’s going to turn out great,” she said. “The kids are just wonderful.”

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The Secret Garden will play at the performing arts center of Clayton A. Bouton High School on Route 85A in Voorheesville on Friday, March 28, at 7:15 p.m.; Saturday, March 29 at 7:15 p.m.; and Sunday, March 30, at 2:15 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, with a $2 discount for students and seniors.