On Thursday night my parents and I ate dinner at Calhoun’s and attended the WordPlayers’ presentation of “The Secret Garden” at the WordPlayers Theater. The WordPlayers have been a local Christian drama troupe since 1995. Though I had seen the WordPlayers perform many times I had never seen them perform at their home base.
The WordPlayers now reside in the Middlebrook Christian Ministries (MCM) building. The property once housed Mars Hill Baptist Church and my church purchased the location when that church disbanded several years ago. The site now houses six ministries including The WordPlayers, Joni and Friends, The Samaritan Ministry, Apostles Anglican Church, and the Imani African Community Church. The Anglican Church meets there on Sunday mornings and graciously allowed the drama to drastically alter their sanctuary.
Attendance was remarkable for a Thursday night. A vast majority were children who were surprisingly well-behaved considering the length and nature of the piece. Also many people from my church attended. I especially enjoyed chatting with JFC (aka “Jo C.”) and DJR at intermission.
The creativity of the production astounded me. The sets consisted only of these six two-sided moveable pieces and yet they were able to create several different atmospheres. As they were performing in a church sanctuary, there was no offstage area. As such all of the actors froze out of the spotlight when they were offstage.
I was especially amused by Alysha Cantrell. In addition to playing the pivotal role of a robin and narrating, she also played a painting by simply standing still and holding a picture frame.
The play is based upon the popular novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published in 1909. Born in England, Burnett (1849-1924) actually immigrated to Knoxville in 1865. Though I had read the book and seen the movie as a child, I honestly did not remember much about it.
The story centers around 10-year old Mary Lennox, continually described as a “wench”. She is orphaned and sent to Yorkshire, England, to live with an uncle whom she has never met. While there, she discovers an abandoned garden. Life in Yorkshire transforms she and the family with which she resides. Though the story has a strong message, one motif that I gleaned from the play was never tell a woman a secret - the garden is Mary’s secret and by the end of the play everyone knows!
Mary Lennox was played by Christiane Frith and she carried the performance beautifully. The ten-year old lead was played by a girl who turned nineteen last week. Amazingly, cast against a legitimate ten-year old she did not seem out of place.
The play ran a little over two hours with a ten-minute intermission. The first act was significantly longer than the second. It opened on July 18 and closes on the 26th. So if you are free this weekend, check it out.
On “the way” home, I visited JTH before calling it a night.
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