In the bustle of adult life, we often can forget what it was like to see the world through the eyes of a child, full of wonder and awe. During times of tragedy, sometimes a child is the only one who can find the seeds of hope necessary to regrow one’s life in a mess of wreckage and chaos.

In “Lily Plants a Garden,” by Jose Cruz Gonzalez, a young girl uses her wagon, her toys and her imagination to cope with the effects of war and the loss of her family. She creates a world in which a girl like herself keeps the souls of everyone she loves alive by planting symbols of them in her garden.

Inspired in part by the Sept. 11 attacks, this play breaks down the complexity of an adult catastrophe into its barest essentials without taking away any of its relevance or meaning.

Under the direction of Jeanne Klein at Kansas University Theatre for Young People, the cast and crew of “Lily” put on an excellent performance that speaks to both children and adults. The light and sound effects capture the attention of the audience immediately, allowing the colorful cast to take viewers away to a fictional world with very real conflict.

Monica Crane portrays the Young Girl who tells the story of Lily and her journey through the Land of Rubble. Crane effortlessly sets the stage for the entire play, conveying the horrific realities of her situation in the light-hearted manner of a child.

KU senior Aubree Bowen plays the Young Girl’s hero, a Zobeing named Lily Wuluman. Bowen successfully taps into a plethora of complex emotions in a way that a child can understand and uses those feelings to build a story of hope and optimism that an adult can sometimes forget.

Lily’s relationship with her mother, played by Rebecca Ralstin, lies at the heart of the story. Gonzalez emphasizes the importance of the parent-child relationship in this play, and Ralstin’s calm and loving demeanor provides a grounding force that is essential to the show.

Despite the devastating circumstances of the characters’ situations, the show relies a great deal on humor to drive the plot. Much of this comic relief comes from Miss Beatrice, a sassy ladybug puppeteered by Spencer Holdren, and Shadow, a barefoot Zobeing played by Nathan Totten.

The show’s vibrant costumes and animated doll-puppets (designed by Jessica Freeman) sustain the imaginative theme of “Lily.” Watching how she and the Young Girl interact with all of these characters is perhaps the most enjoyable part of the show. These relationships are the real seeds from which the garden of acceptance and healing will grow.

The KU production of “Lily” is only the third production of this play in the nation and the first by a university. The final performance will be at 2:30 p.m. today at the Inge Theatre in Murphy Hall.