Thespians prepare for ‘The Diviners’
The LC Thespians will perform their annual play Thursday through Saturday. It is “The Diviners,” which is the same play that has brought success to them earlier this competitive season.
The play was written by Jim Leonard Jr., who was a professor at Hanover College. The play takes place in the 1920s in a fictional southern Indiana town.
Lead roles are junior Sophia Dollinger, junior Joe Mount and senior Colin Tully. Tully plays a 17-year-old who has the ability to find water with a divining rod. “This is his story of how (the boy’s) life touches the people in his town,” director Kathleen Horrigan said.
Seniors Dayne Gowan, Sierra Holland, Keith Craycroft, Nicola Liss, Andrea McCarrel, sophomores Kevin Kryah, Jay Aguirre and junior Amy Kleiman make up the rest of the all-Thespian cast.
While rehearsing for the show, the Thespians were simultaneously getting ready for the State competition, which was Jan. 22-24. LC placed 4th out of 9 schools by performing a shortened version of “The Diviners.” LC qualified for State by placing third in the Regional competition in December after a three-year hiatus from the competition due to scheduling conflicts.
The play will begin at 7 p.m. at each performance. Tickets are $6 in advance and $8 at the door. Tickets can be purchased at the performing arts box office.
All proceeds from the play will go to paying for necessities for the play like costumes, props and scenery.
So what is the play about basically? No one ever really says.
Please! Jim Leonard was a STUDENT at Hanover College when he wrote The Diviners, a fact of which we who were his professors were proud. The play won a national award for student writing, and was given a professional performance by a New York company within a year or two after that. Jim moved on to become a successful writer of TV scripts in L.A. The Diviners returned to Hanover for a special “alumni” performance in 1992, with the late John Geter repeating the role of Buddy Layman that he had played in the original production, and alum Woody Harrelson playing C.C. Showers. Hanover continues to have an excellent theatre program, with a special emphasis on play-writing, and performing student-written works.
The Diviners, by the way, is about the unintended consequences of good deeds, and also about over-zealous religion. It is a funny play with a sad and poignant ending.
Jonathan Smith
Professor of English
Hanover College