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The Theatre Department will wrap up its 2009-2010 season with it’s production of Jim Leonard Jr.’s classic play “The Diviners” which opens this Friday.
Set in the years of the Great Depression, this play is about a wandering preacher, C.C. Showers, who stumbles upon a small rural town and begins working on a farm. There, he meets a teen named Buddy.
Showers eventually befriends Buddy, who is deathly afraid of water after a traumatic childhood event. However, Buddy also reveals he has the peculiar ability of locating underground water aquifers, a gift known as “divining,” andability he is still trying to understand.
Pierce College professor RoZsa Horvath, who will retire from teaching after this semester, will be directing the play.
Horvath, who has been directing for over 20 years, wanted to choose the perfect play to conclude the season.
“It’s a beautiful piece of Americana. People who have seen it were changed by it,” said Horvath.
Michael Beck, a Pierce College student who will play the role of Buddy, is especially excited for the upcoming play, as it is his first.
“It’s a really powerful play,” he said. “I never thought I’d have a role like this that’s so physically demand and fun at the same time.”
William Barker, who will play the role of C.C. Showers, was specifically asked to audition by Horvath.
“When I first read it, I actually wasn’t super enthused about it. It didn’t really speak to me when I first read it,” he said. “RoZsa [Horvath] asked me to audition and read the script again.”
“It wasn’t until I read it out loud that I really got it,” he added. “This is a play you don’t get until you experience it. There’s a magic that only happens when you experience it.”
“The Diviners,” which begins April 30 and runs through May 9, will be performed at Pierce College’s Dow Arena Theatre in the Performance Arts Building.
Tickets are on sale and are selling fast. The premiere showing is already sold out, but tickets for all the following shows are still available. Student and senior citizen tickets are $12 and general admission is $15.
Tickets may also be purchased one hour before showtime at each performance, or by calling the Theatre Department box office at (818)719-6488.