Originally published 1983 | ||
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Similar And They Dance Real Slo, The Art of Living Life, Un‑Special Needs Participa | ||
The Diviners is a play by Jim Leonard, Jr. It takes place in the fictional town of Zion, Indiana during the 1930s/Great Depression era. The play was originally developed with assistance from the American College Theatre Festival and originally performed by the Hanover College Theatre Group in 1980. The play later received its first professional production with the Circle Repertory Company in 1980.
Contents
Plot
The play begins and ends with elegies spoken by two of the townspeople describing what happened the day of Buddy's tragedy. The body of the play is the memory of the time leading to the climactic event. Buddy is searching (divining) for water for local farmer, Basil. Luella, Basil's wife, refuses to believe that the boy can find water.
Set in the early days of the Depression in a small southern Indiana town named Zion, Buddy Layman is a mentally-challenged boy whose sweet nature touches most people he meets. One day a stranger named C.C. Showers passes through Zion looking for work and food. C.C. takes an immediate liking to Buddy and vice versa. C.C. is able to relate to Buddy in ways that most people aren't. The two become close friends and C.C. soon finds himself as Buddy's mentor and teacher. Jennie Mae is attracted to C.C., and though he likes her, Jennie Mae isn't the only single girl near Zion that finds C.C. a catch of a man. The town’s dry goods owner has her eye set on bringing old fashioned revival to the community. The local diner owner would love to see the church rebuilt – and all the Sunday customers it would bring to her establishment. CC’s relationship with the people of the town changes drastically when they learned that he was a former preacher who has given up preaching. That knowledge changes everything and leads to a horrible tragedy. The diner owner, despite C.C. trying to tell her multiple times that he's done with preaching for good, is adamant that C.C. will rebuild the town church and bring back traditions of worship service and songs on Sundays and Wednesdays, and leads the town in singing hymns when C.C. tries to help cure Buddy of his aquaphobia and the ringworm that has gotten into his feet, believing that he is actually baptizing Buddy. While C.C. is trying to explain to the still singing townspeople that he isn't doing a baptism, Buddy walks further downstream, when he is pulled under and drowns.
A “slice of life” play, “The Diviners”, takes the viewers intimately close to the main characters :
Characters
Soundtrack
Because the play takes place in a religious town, much religious music is incorporated in the script and could be used as background music. Some songs listed in the play include the following: