Face your fears with ‘The Diviners’

Published Nov. 3, 2023 in Troy University's student newspaper, The Tropolitan (by Hermes Media)

The dried land of 1930’s Indiana absorbs a foreseen rain, soaking into the ground to fuel the surrounding crops. However, the one who saw it coming was the one who dreaded it the most.

Troy University’s Theatre and Dance Department’s production of ‘The Diviners’ takes viewers back to the Great Depression era, where the dry laws are still in effect, Hoover is still president, and the citizens of the fictional city of Zion are living their day-to-day lives.

“In this town comes a former preacher, and he comes across a boy who is terrified of water.” Said director, and theatre and dance professor, Quinton Cockrell. “He makes it his business to try and help that young man get over his fear.”

This young man, Buddy Layman, has both a deathly fear of water and an innate talent of finding it.

The production team behind “The Diviners” has been rehearsing for the show since late August. With dialect, characterization work and text analysis, student actors have worked to bring this fictional town to reality.

“I know for me and characterization, it was a little bit of a hurdle because buddy is 14-years-old, but he's mentally stunted because of some of the trauma in his life,” said Jamie Bishop, a senior theatre major from Rainbow City, Alabama, who plays the role of Buddy Layman.

“He has a really interesting way he chooses to vocalize his feelings and he's very physical. He's not like how we would imagine like your typical 14-year-old today.”

“For Ferris, part of it was the physical aspect,”? said John Ingram, a sophomore theatre major from Bainbridge, Georgia, who plays the role of Ferris Layman. “To be quite frank, I don't know how to ride a bike – I never learned how to ride a bike.

"Having to construct a bike, I felt was necessary, for being able to do it on stage – for being able to take it apart and put it back together. So, being a part of that construction process, initially for the bike, I thought was important, especially for understanding what this character does on a daily basis.”

Now with the show debuting Friday, the production team has been working to prepare “The Diviners” for students.

“I think this show is about good people,” Cockrell said. “The playwright says that everyone in this play has the best intentions, so I would love for an audience to take away a love for these characters, and I hope they get just wrapped up in the story and are truly affected by the ending of that story.”

With the technical side of its production, “The Diviners” brings a simplistic style to the set, with sound and lighting design to bring the rivers to life – insect sounds as two of the characters fish along the river, and a light blue shimmer beneath the set as Buddy finds a patch of water underneath the dirt.

Students can purchase tickets for a showing of “The Diviners” at the Troy Theatre and Dance website, or at the Trojan Center Box Office.

“The Diviners” will be in the Trojan Center Theater from Nov 3-5 and Nov 9-12.