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Furman Theatre presents ‘The Diviners’


Last updated February 16, 2019

By News administrator

Furman University Theatre will present “The Diviners” by Jim Leonard, Jr. Wednesday, Feb. 13, through Saturday, Feb.16, and Thursday, Feb. 21, through Saturday, Feb. 23, at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees Feb. 17 and Feb. 24 at 3 p.m. All performances take place in The Playhouse on the Furman campus.

Directed by Furman Theatre Professor Rhett Bryson, the play is open to the public. Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for seniors and $10 for students.

The Diviners

“The Diviners” takes place in The Playhouse through Feb. 24.

Set in rural Indiana in the early 1930s, Jim Leonard Jr.’s 1980 play, “The Diviners,” is suffused with a period regionalism that is almost folkloric in tone. The action revolves around the innocent character of Buddy, a mentally challenged adolescent whose near-drowning has resulted in his extraordinary powers as a water witch and weather forecaster – skills essential to Depression-era farmers of the region. When disenchanted preacher C.C. Showers wanders into town, he forms an intense friendship with Buddy that will prove fateful.

Variety describes Leonard’s play as, “A splendid drama by a playwright…with poetic as well as human feeling.”

The cast for “The Diviners” includes:

Aaron Prince as Buddy Layman
Emily Matthews as Jennie Mae Layman
Matt Middleton as Ferris Layman
Derek Leonard as C.C. Showers
Anna Bowman as Norma Henshaw
Claire Shea as Darlene Henshaw
Makala Fuller as Goldie Short
Andy Golla as Basil Bennett
Anne Morgan as Luella Bennett
Jonathan Davis as Melvin Wilder
Jax Pratt as Dewey Maples

For ticket information and reservations, call the Theatre Box Office at 864-294-2125. Tickets go on sale Monday, Jan. 28, and may be ordered online. Online ordering charges apply.

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