Wheeling Jesuit Students to Perform The Secret Garden

Taking center stage in Wheeling Jesuit University’s Troy Theater this February will be The Secret Garden.

 Wheeling Jesuit University students will bring to life The Secret Garden Feb. 16-19. The performances are set for 7:30 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Feb. 19.

“The Secret Garden is a wonderful opportunity to teach children that selflessness can open the door to happiness and friendship. A message that young and old will appreciate,” said Dave Henderson, coordinator of performing arts at WJU.

Shown are members of the cast of WJU’s production of The Secret Garden. The front row from left to right are: Halli Richards, Nathaniel Foster and Stephen Hansknecht. In back are Felicity Nolder, MacKenzie Shepard, and Matthew Martin.

The Secret Garden, adapted by Pamela Sterling from the book by Francis Hodgson Burnett, tells the of Mary Lennox, a spoiled, contrary, solitary child raised in India, but sent to live in her uncle’s manor in Yorkshire after her parents’ death.

She is left to herself by her uncle, Mr. Craven, who travels often to escape the memory of his deceased wife. The only person who has time for Mary is her chambermaid, Martha. It is Martha who tells Mary about Mrs. Craven’s walled garden, which has been closed and locked since her death.

Mary becomes intrigued by the prospect of the forgotten garden, and her quest to find out the garden’s secrets leads her to discover other secrets hidden in the gloomy Misselthwaite Manor. Discovering the hidden, neglected garden, Mary plants the seeds of new life for all those drawn into her secret refuge. The timeless story about the growth and blossoming of the earth and the human spirit.

The cast for The Secret Garden includes:

Nurse Craven –  Mackenzie Shepard

Mary Lennox – Halli Richards

Mrs. Medlock – Felicity Nolder

Dickon Sowerby – Stephen Hansknecht

Martha Sowerby – Bernadette Tirador

Ben Weatherstaff – Mathew Martin

Arcibald Craven -Tyler Boyd

The Robin – Mackenzie Shepard

For more information about any of the upcoming performances, call 304-243-2085 or visit Wheeling Jesuit University performing arts on Facebook.