Centennial Christian drama students go back to an older time where people mean well but trouble can still follow.
The play, the Diviners, is not the well-known story by Margaret Laurence, but the perhaps lesser known play by Jim Leonard Jr., similar in title only.
Buddy Layman is a boy with mental challenges who some say knows some things others shouldn’t and who has the ability to “divine” for water, although he’s terrified of water because he nearly drowned as a child and his mother did drown.
He’s so afraid of water that he never bathes.
When a preacher comes to town, while trying to get away from the ministry, he and Buddy become very close as the preacher is also a diviner.
The preacher, named C.C. Showers, takes it upon himself to try to get Buddy to bathe.
Ladies in the town learn that he is a preacher and try to push him back to that vocation to some unexpected and ultimately life-changing results.
Jo-Anne Voogd directs and says rehearsals are going very well.
Connor Block is Buddy and Joshua Piers is C.C. Showers.
The rest of the cast is Brianna Lindsay as Buddy’s sister Jennie Mae, Marcus as Ferris Layman, Grace Stewart as Norma Henshaw, Rayla Lindsay as Darlene Henshaw, Hannah Stewart as Goldie Short, Liam Nutma as Basil Bennett, Sophia Zanardo as Luella Bennett, Renzo Zanardo as Melvin Wilder and Aiden Carter as Dewey Maples.
This is Centennial’s 14th annual play.
For more details about the Diviners, including where to buy tickets, see City Scene on page 11 of the April 29 Terrace Standard.