The Diviners 

SYNOPSIS: This marvelously theatrical play is the story of a disturbed young man 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, has 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. He 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 child 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 and, in the confusion, the boy drowns.

Character Breakdown: 

Buddy Layman: A boy who has the special gift to find water. He suffers from brain damage due to a drowning accident where he lost his          mother. He is very curious yet frightened when learning about different things.

C.C. Showers: A former preacher battling his own demons who befriends the boy. He and Jennie Mae have an attraction that ends as quickly as it begins due to major age differences.

Ferris Layman: Buddy's father and local mechanic. He is short tempered and hesitant to do anything that might cause his son anguish, even if it is for his own good.

Jennie Mae Layman:Buddy's patient and caring sister. She fills the maternal role of her family. She has a crush on the preacher.

Basil Bennett: A farmer who relies on Buddy's abilities and is an amateur doctor. He is the one who diagnoses Buddy's problems. He is married to Luella.

Luella Bennett: Basil's wife who doubts Buddy's abilities.

Norma Henshaw: The owner of the Dry Goods Store. She wants the church back in Zion. She thinks the preacher's arrival is a sign from God.

Goldie Short: The owner of the Dine Away Cafe. Agrees with Norma about C.C.'s arrival.

Darlene Henshaw: Norma's niece. Imaginative and charismatic. She has a rebellious streak that fights her Aunt's rules but loves her Aunt. She sneaks off to dance with Dewey.

Melvin Wilder: Basil's farmhand who helps Dewey ask Darlene out to the dance. He is older and takes Dewey under his wing. He teaches Dewey to be "suave".

Dewey Maples: Basil's farmhand. He is young and naive. He looks to Melvin as his "older brother."

Ensemble Townspeople will be cast as well!

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