It may take a lot of talent to be an actor, but there are some roles that take more than skill to play convincingly. Having a college student portray a young girl is one of those roles.

That is why Iowa State’s theater department turned to middle school students to fill roles in its production of “Secret Garden.”

“They bring youthfulness to it,” says Terence Goodman, director of the show. “The energy that the young kids have, it spills over to the cast and kind of brings them up to another level.”

Joe Wilgenbusch, senior in music who plays Archibald, says he is impressed by the middle school students and their lack of self-consciousness, as well as their ability to ask or do anything without being afraid.

“The Secret Garden” calls on a young actress to play Mary, a young girl who has lost her parents to cholera in India. Mary is sent to live with her uncle in England, where she finds a garden that belonged to her deceased aunt. By bringing life back to the garden, she also brings life to those around her.

Goodman says to bring this story to the stage in nine weeks — compared to the usual 12 — was an initial worry, but it was unnecessary.

“We just start out by talking about each one of the characters and their characterization and what they need to bring to the show,” Goodman says.

Laura Rudolph, freshman in music who plays Claire Holmes, says they started out with separate rehearsals for music, singing and choreography — then they put it all together.

“More recently we started doing run-throughs, and we’ve moved into Fisher Theater and are doing complete run-throughs,” Rudolph says.

In order to get the cast ready for the performance, Goodman ran a lot of rehearsals and utilized outside help.

“We actually brought in a diction coach from New York City,” Wilgenbusch says. “He came in for two or three days and worked with individuals on accents, and he even made us tapes.”

Wilgenbusch says he also worked with the entire chorus to incorporate accents into the songs. With rehearsals almost daily, those involved with the show had to find time to do it.

“The toughest part is just balancing everything out between school and the show,” Rudolph says.

Goodman says that dealing with the student’s schedules has been the most challenging aspect as a director.

“Every rehearsal there’s two or three [people] missing,” Goodman says. “It makes it very, very difficult.”

Goodman says Monday night was the first time the entire cast was together at a rehearsal. Despite the challenges conflicting schedules have presented, Goodman says the end result is something to be proud of.

“It’s probably the best of the three that I’ve directed as far as the acting, and vocally what we’ve been able to put together,” he says.

Singing in musical theater is essential, so it goes without saying the cast worked particularly hard on this aspect of the show.

“The music is more complex than it is for a lot of musical theater shows, and that has been a challenge,” Wilgenbusch says.

But challenging music is often the most rewarding to hear.

“I love the music,” Goodman says. “I think the music is absolutely gorgeous.”

What: “The Secret Garden”

Where: Fisher Theater

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday

Cost: $10 students, $18 adults