The Diviners, April 2013

Winner of the American College Theater Festival, and written when Jim Leonard, Jr. was just 19 years old, this marvelously theatrical play is the story of a disturbed young man with an uncanny gift for finding water and his friendship with a disenchanted preacher in southern Indiana in the early 1930s.  When the boy was young he almost drowned. This trauma and the loss of his mother in the same accident left him deathly afraid of water. The preacher, set on breaking away from a long line of Kentucky family preachers, is determined not to do what he does best, and instead works as a mechanic for the boy’s father. The town doesn’t have a preacher and the women try to persuade him to preach while he tries to persuade the boy to wash. When the preacher finally gets the boy in the river and is washing him, the townspeople mistake the scene for a baptism. They descend on the event that sadly changes from sacred to tragic.

 

 

 

 

 

The Diviners by Jim Leonard, Jr

Spring Mainstage 2013

 

 

The Cast

Buddy Layman                                                             Samuel Rosario

Jennie Mae Layman                                                                  Vanessa Jones

Ferris Layman                                                                          Angel Reyes

Sara Layman                                                                            Emily Trapp

C.C. Showers                                                                          Joel Kawira

Father                                                                                      Tavo Parral

Norma Henshaw                                                                      Rhianna Cockrell

Darlene Henshaw                                                                     Melanie Hertzler

Goldie Short                                                                             Adrienne Schmucker

Basil Bennett                                                                            Martin Flowers

Luella Bennett                                                                           Gwen Stephan

Melvin Wilder                                                                           Isacc Hernandez

Dewey Maples                                                             Paul Zehr

Ensemble                                                                                  Kyle Davis, Miranda Earnhart,

Jenna Lee, Blake Shetler

 

The Production Team

Director                                                                                    Tamera Izlar

Stage Manager                                                             Angie Troyer

Assistant Stage Managers                                                         Blake Shetler, Miranda Earnhart

Producer                                                                                  Doug Liechty Caskey

Technical Director                                                                    Andrew Moeggenborg

Assistant Technical Director                                                      Angie Troyer

Set Designer                                                                             Andrew Moeggenborg

Lighting Designer                                                                      Jay Mast

Sound Designer                                                                        Patrick Ressler

Costume Designer                                                                    Natasha Weisenbeck

Hair & Make up Designer                                                         Clare Maxwell

Dialect Coach                                                                           Paul Meier

Choreographer                                                                         Rachel Miller

Bike Consultant                                                                        Jesse Bontrager

Light Board Operator                                                               Ben Ganger

Sound Board Operator                                                 Robert Learch

Master Carpenter                                                                     Alan Smith

Master Electrician                                                                     Gwen Stephan

Wardrobe Manager                                                                  Natasha Weisenbeck

Set Construction                                                                       Alan Smith, Angie Troyer,

Gwen Stephan, Robert Lerch

Hair & Make up Dressers                                                         Clare Maxwell, Hannah Sauder

Graphic Designer                                                                      Hannah Grieser

Photographer                                                                            Hannah Bartel

ASL Interpreting Professor                                                       Colleen Geier

ASL Interpreters                                                                      Rebekah Lintz, Stacy Wyse

Production Assistant                                                                 Sandy Slabaugh

House Manager                                                                        Brandie Brubaker

Publicity                                                                                   Jodi Beyeler, Becca Kraybill

Advance Ticket Sales                                                               Lisa Weaver