From Staff Reports
Theatre at Southeastern is currently presenting the first show of its season, “The Diviners” by Jim Leonard Jr. The show opened Thursday, Sept. 26 and runs through Sept. 28 in Montgomery Auditorium.
Tickets bought in advance will be $5 with a student ID or $7 at the door.
For tickets, call 580-745-2696, visit the Visual and Performing Arts Center Box Office or go online to www.se.edu/theatre.
“The Diviners” is set in Zion, Ind., a small rural town in the early years of the depression.
The central character, a special young man named Buddy Layman who has a miraculous talent for finding water in the town that desperately needs it, befriends a traveling preacher who has given up his occupation.
“Jim Leonard Jr.’s powerful Depression-era fable is a splendidly complex, deeply moving play,” said the editor of Brown Paper Tickets, “… humorous, beautiful and tragic; and surprisingly speaks of many present day concerns with gentle wisdom.”
Leonard, who won the award for Best Original Play at the National College Theatre Festival for “The Diviners,” now lives in Hollywood where he currently has scripts in development with Warner Bros. Studio.
“The Diviners” is directed by Associate Professor Riley Coker and assistant director Tanner Risner, with technical design by Theatre at Southeastern’s new Technical Director Will Stacey. Costume design for the show is by Associate Professor Kathleen Hargrove.
The cast includes Domanick Hubbard as Buddy Layman and Cortney Baker as Jennie Mae Layman. The cast also features Dustin Curry, Landry Miller, Kylie Page, Trent Pratt, Minda Rocha, Wiley Sale, Ashleigh Self and Caroline Wright.
Making their Theatre at Southeastern debut will be sophomore Sarah Felder, freshman Justice Graham, freshman Laura Renfro, junior Wiley Sales and senior Judson Wall.
“I am so very excited to be directing ‘The Diviners,’” said Coker. “It is full of wonderful characters and a story that will remind you of the simple pleasures in life – a bird’s song…the smell of an approaching rainstorm…and humanity at its very best.
“Not only am I working with an amazing cast, I also have the pleasure of an equally talented creative team.”