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By COLLETTE CAPRARA

FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Two theater performances aimed at kids and teenagers this month show the broad spectrum of drama created for this age--ranging from the moving and uplifting saga of lives that were redeemed and renewed, to the humorous escapades of an adventurous little mouse.

"The Secret Garden," produced by the children's division of the area's premier professional dinner theater, Riverside, addresses the challenges of heart, meaning and relationships in a tale of coming of age and coming to life.

Adapted from the 1910 literary classic by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the musical opens when 10-year-old orphan Mary Lennox arrives from India to live with her only remaining relative, Uncle Archibald Craven, on his spacious but haunting Misselthwaite estate in Yorkshire.

Headstrong and daring, Mary explores the mansion to discover a host of entangled intrigues. Her uncle, grieving the death of his beautiful wife, Lily, has walled off her garden and the memories it evokes. Fearing that he might also lose the one vestige of Lily's love--their young son, Colin--Craven has kept the boy bed-bound since birth, lest he develop a deformity or be called to an early death.

Unrelenting, Mary continues her exploration of the estate--until she finds the key to the garden and its threshold. As she secretly invests in the dormant and deadened plants, they begin to flourish. At the same time, she is drawn into a relationship of heart with her cousin.

Though both children have layers of pain, loneliness and distrust from the experiences of their lives, those begin to drop away. Mary's tough love and challenging nature is just what Colin needs to conquer his own fears and limitations.

Like the plants in the garden, he too begins to flourish--while Mary's nurturing and caring nature begins to bloom through their relationship, as well.

The emotive music scores of the performance add to the impact of this drama--and a talented cast of seasoned actors, some as young as 12, exhibits the capacity to embody and convey the emotional content of the story.

"The garden is a metaphor for the heart," said Steve Thompson, who with his wife, Mary, has directed at the Riverside Children's Theater for more than 20 years.

"What Mary, Colin and his father discover is that when they stop living in their own pain and reach out to lift somebody else up, they free themselves. It's a message that resonates with adolescents and with anyone who has ever been in a situation where they've felt that no one understands them or loves them.

"The key questions are not 'Who loves me?'--it's 'Who do I love?' and 'Who will I reach out to?'"

Even the parents of the young actors have been brought to tears as they've watched the rehearsals for this compelling drama.

The production runs through Jan. 2.

On a different note, but no less captivating for the young and young-at-heart, "The Adventures of Stuart Little"--performed during the next two weekends only--is produced by Stage Door Productions, a longstanding community theater in the Fredericksburg area.

Children familiar with the animated film of the same title will recognize the plot and character of the play, based on the 1945 children's classic by E.B. White.

Adventures abound when the feisty little mouse leaves his family's New York home in pursuit of his little bird friend, Margalo, who has flown away.

"The basic message of the play is that you can achieve great things, no matter how small you are," said Matthew Armentrout, Stage Door's Children's Theater coordinator.

In fact, as the action unfolds, being diminutive can be an asset when the tasks at hand include retrieving a ping-pong ball that landed behind a radiator or a wedding ring that fell down the drain.

On the other hand, being small carries great challenges when a dog is in pursuit or a window shade that you were grasping unexpectedly rolls up!

"The audience will enjoy the performance's 'sight gags'," explained Armentrout. For, example when Stuart rolls the ping-pong ball back onstage it is a huge ball that dwarfs him. Likewise, the retrieved ring that Stuart carries is the size of a Hula-Hoop.

"Stuart Little" is one of the two productions that Stage Door offers each year with a goal of incorporating everyone from the community who auditions.

Its cast of 40 youths, ranging in age from 4 to 17, includes three narrators who move the action along and set the scene for each adventure in this "storybook style" production.

"We have at least 15 kids who have never performed with us before, and some of those new actors have lead roles," said Stage Door's executive directory, Kimberly Kemp.

"We enjoy giving these children their first stage experience and continuing to enrich the experiences of our 'regulars.' And families will enjoy the magic of live theater, especially when the story is being performed by talented kids from around the area."

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