John W. Bate Middle School Troupe #11778 is presenting "The Secret Garden" at the Gravely Hall Performing Center from Nov. 21-24. The production is based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett and adapted by Tim Kelly. It is being produced by special arrangement with Pioneer Drama Service, Inc. Englewood, Colorado. 

The play is showing at 7 p.m. on Nov. 21, Nov. 22 and Nov. 23. It is showing at 3 p.m. on Nov. 24. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and students, and $2 for Bate students. 

"The Secret Garden" is the story of a young girl named Mary Lenox whose parents died from an outbreak of cholera in India. She is escorted to her Uncle Archibald Craven's manor in England. Mary is introduced to many of Mr. Craven's servants at the manor who are all related to one another. They are the children of Mrs. Sowerby, a kind, wise and motherly neighbor who becomes a mother-like figure to Mary.

In lieu of a governess, Mary is granted permission by her uncle to claim a bit of earth in which to grow a garden. In her search for the perfect piece of earth, Mary discovers a walled up garden with a locked door. She finds out from the gardener Dickon that her Uncle Archibald locked the garden and threw away the key after his wife died from a tragic accident inside the garden. 

Much of the story focuses on Mary's search for the key, and how she forms a kind of family.