LTC’s ‘Diviners’ a shower of small-town life

Water is everywhere in Longmont Theatre Company’s season-ender, “The Diviners.” The play is no cold-splash to the face, though. Instead, it washes over you like a gentle, warm bath.

From left, Kurt J. Keilbach, Connor Magyar and Veronique Lecocq in "The Diviners." Courtesy photo

Jim Leonard, who wrote “The Diviners” in 1980, employs no melodramatic devices, and the play’s humor is homespun, driven by the personalities in the fictitious Zion, Indiana. This is no taut drama or rollicking comedy. It exists somewhere in between — a story about redemption and spiritual doubt during a time when a breakfast of eggs and potatoes cost 10 cents at the local diner.

Buddy Layman (Connor Magyar) is a simpleminded boy bursting with energy. Though he lost his mother to an accident, Buddy is well loved by his sister Jennie Mae (Veronique Lecocq) and father Ferris (Kent Sugg), and he’s blessed with a gift for witching water – a respected talent in his rural burg.

Ironically, though, Buddy has an all-consuming fear of water, an anxiety leftover from his mother’s accident, we’re left to assume. When a drifter named C.C. Showers (Kurt J. Keilbach) stumbles into the small town, he befriends Buddy and sets about trying to help him overcome his fear.

But C.C. is carrying more baggage than the two pieces of luggage he holds. A former preacher, he’s running from something.

The LTC cast does a fine job creating the small-town characters. Sugg’s Ferris is blessed with common sense and his grimy exterior hides a sensitive man trying to make ends meet during difficult times. Lecocq never strikes a false note as Jennie Mae, a girl who’s nurturing to her brother and hungering for the attention of an older man, while Keilbach’s Showers is driven by demons.

The role of Buddy is deceptively challenging – it can be overdone with fidgeting or other physical indications of the boy’s diminished state of mind. But Magyar, in his LTC debut, turns in a good performance. His Buddy is filled with equal parts eagerness, innocence and will.

The show’s technical elements match the cast’s work. Brian Ernst, as set designer, gives us a rustic home front, the interior of a diner and the bank of a river without making the Longmont stage feel crowded. D.G. Madrid’s lighting design is especially effective during a scene set at the river. Shimmering blue lights evoke a running stream as two characters dip their feet.

The play’s ending – a heartbreaking moment beautifully handled by director Nanci Van Fleet and her cast — doesn’t jolt the senses. By then, the story has seeped inside and leaves you with the kind of sadness that’s hard to shake.

Contact Mark Collins at 303-473-1369 or BDCTheater@comcast.net.