TWU Theatre Opens Season with The Diviners

9/25/02

DENTON — The Texas Woman's University drama department's production of Jim Leonard's The Diviners is a prime example of that theatre adage, “The show must go on.”

When they learned that ongoing utility construction on TWU's Denton campus would prevent them from opening the 2002-2003 season in their principle facility, Redbud Theatre, drama faculty members began searching for an alternate site. They found it in the Patio Building, located next to the Arts & Sciences Building on Oakland Avenue.

The performance will take place at 8 p.m. Oct. 4-5 and 9-12 in the Patio Building. Ticket prices are $5 for TWU students, children and senior citizens; $7 for non-TWU students, faculty and staff; and $10 for adults. For ticket reservations and other information, call the box office at (940) 898-2020.

The change in venue required that a stage be constructed at the outdoor site. It also required a change in production. The play originally scheduled to open the season was switched with The Diviners, which had been scheduled for February,

“This seemed to be the simplest solution,” said Dr. Tony Medlin, TWU assistant professor of drama and director of the production. “(The Diviners) is a relatively straightforward play in terms of staging.”

The story, which Medlin describes as a “country, homespun tragedy,” is set in Zion, a mysterious rural town in southern Indiana. The order of things is “just not quite right,” Medlin said, adding that the town is waiting for resolution.

The main character, a disturbed young man named Buddy Layman, lost his mother, who died while trying to save him from drowning. As a result, Layman is deathly afraid of water, yet is gifted with the ability to divine wells and predict rain. A disenchanted preacher, C.C. Showers, befriends Layman and is intent on coaxing the boy to wash to restore his health, even as he himself resists the efforts of the townspeople to persuade him to restore the town's church, which has burned down.

Medlin said Layman's survival was an unnatural event — the result of a mother's obsession. Layman actually is an angel who cannot return to heaven until he is baptized, Medlin explained. Showers, who is determined not to return to the ministry, does not comprehend that he is an unwitting tool in the hand of God, he said.

“It's a very affecting and human story that has strong elements of ritual,” Medlin said, adding that the play has much in common with John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.

Cast members include Beau Bratcher (Whitesboro) as Buddy Layman; Travis Ross (Jacksonville) as C.C. Showers; Chrissy English (Jourdanton) as Jennie Mae Layman; Brendan Dennehy (Greenville) as Ferris Layman; Patricia Stepken (Denton) as Norma Henshaw; Effua Oginga (Denton) as Goldie Short; Keri Sternin (Pilot Point) as Darlene Henshaw; Jaymes Gregory (Haltom City) as Basil Bennett; Alicia Green (Simms) as Luella Bennett; Joshua Scott Hancock (Kilgore) as Melvin Wilder; and Jason Oliver (Frisco) as Dewey Maples.

Crew members include Brooke Evans-Hanna, stage manager; Christina Blankenship, assistant stage manager; Marketa Fantova, set designer; Jerry Dawson, lighting designer; Mary Lou Hoyle, costume designer; Jaymes Gregory, sound designer; Kim Tapp, properties designer; and Amanda Kelts, makeup designer.

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For Further Information Contact:

Karen Treat
Senior Copywriter
Tel: ktreat@twu.edu
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