Spring mainstage play:

The Goshen College Theater Department will present Jim Leonard, Jr.’s award-winning play “The Diviners” for the spring mainstage production on April 5, 6 and 12 at 8 p.m. and on April 7 and 14 (ASL interpreted) at 3 p.m. in Goshen College’s Umble Center. Tamara Izlar, assistant professor of theater, is the director and Doug Liechty Caskey, professor of theater, is the producer.

Set in the fictional southern Indiana town of Zion during the Great Depression, the play features Buddy Layman, a disturbed young man who is deathly afraid of water after almost drowning when he was young and losing his mother in the same accident. Nonetheless, Buddy, played by senior Sammy Rosario (San Juan, Puerto Rico), has an uncanny gift for finding water, or “divining.” When a disenchanted preacher named C.C., played by junior Joel Kawira (Shirati, Tanzania), comes to town, the two form a special friendship. But their friendship ends when a sacred event turns tragic.

“‘The Diviners’ play brings into focus our dependence on water, both as a natural and spiritual resource, ranging from a farmer’s need for rain and a continuous water supply to a religious community’s need for water to baptize believers,” said Liechty Caskey.

Leonard wrote “The Diviners” in 1980 as a 19-year-old college student and is now an established playwright. It was the winning play at the American College Theater Festival. In 1989, Goshen College produced the play under the direction of former theater professor Lauren Friesen. “A number of people who saw a 1989 performance still remember the powerful emotional impact the play had on them, and they’ve expressed an eagerness to see our 2013 version of the play under Tamera Izlar’s direction,” said Liechty Caskey.

The timing of the play and connections to current realities also makes it particularly relevant for audiences today. “In a year when natural disasters continue to impact us amid our dependence on rain and clean water for daily living, we realize even more how we need to cooperate as a society in both resource management and to communicate clearly our spiritual and physical needs,” said Liechty Caskey. “If we’re paying attention, we’re constantly reminded of our interdependence with each other and with God.”

Supporting actors include senior Vanessa Jones (Dolton, S.D.), sophomore Angel Reyes (Leesburg, Ind.), sophomore Rhianna Cockrell (Rileyville, Va.), sophomore Melanie Hertzler (Goshen), freshman Adrienne Schmucker (Wauseon, Ohio), freshman Martin Flowers (Nappanee, Ind.), senior Gwen Stephan (Goshen), junior Isaac Hernandez (Goshen) and freshman Paul Zehr (Carthage, N.Y.).

The crew includes Andrew Moeggenborg, technical director; Angie Troyer, stage manager; Jay Mast, light designer; Natasha Weisenbeck, costume designer and manager; Patrick Ressler, sound designer; Jenna Lee, props designer; Clare Maxwell, hair and make-up; Paul Meier, dialect coach; Blake Shetler and Miranda Earnhart; assistant stage managers; Alan Smith, master carpenter; Gwen Stephan, master electrician; Ben Ganger, light board operator; Robert Lerch, sound board operator; Rebekah Lintz and Stacy Wyse, interpreters; Sandy Slabaugh, production assistant; Brandi Brubaker, house manager.

Umble Center is accessible to wheelchairs and people with other physical limitations. American Sign Language interpretation will be offered during the April 14 performance of the play.

Tickets cost $10 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors, and can be purchased in advance through the Welcome Center by calling (574) 535-7566, emailing welcomecenter@goshen.edu or online at www.goshen.edu/tickets. Tickets can also be purchased at the Umble Center Box Office one hour before the show.

-By Becca Kraybill

Event:

Goshen College Theater Department’s 2013 Winter One Acts will have variety, featuring a man who believes he is Edgar Degas, a soldier returning home from Afghanistan and a stop-motion film.

The Goshen College Players will present “Degas c’est moi” by David Ives, directed by Phil Weaver-Stoesz; “Seldom is heard” by Mary Steelsmith, directed by Nathan Vader; and original film shorts directed by Jacob Landis-Eigsti and Samuel Jones. The performances will run Friday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m., and on Saturday, Feb. 16 and Sunday, Feb. 17 at 3 p.m. (ASL interpreted) in Goshen College’s Umble Center.

David Ives’ “Degas c’est moi” is an encore performance from senior Billy Funk’s Jan. 25 theater recital. Funk, a history and theater major, plays a man who wakes up one day and decides to be Edgar Degas. The man interacts with a total of 17 characters – played by five actors – in his Degas identity. Phil Weaver-Stoesz, a 2011 GC alumnus, will direct. The play “wrestles with the theme of accepting who you are, even if you feel like that’s nobody,” Weaver-Stoesz said.

Supporting actors include senior Brook Hostetter; senior Vanessa Jones; senior Aaron Shelly; and sophomore Jordan Weaver. Angie Troyer, senior, is set designer, and Natasha Weisenbeck, junior, is costume designer.

Mary Steelmith’s “Seldom is heard” was a runner-up in the 2012 Goshen College Peace Play Contest and is about a woman named Hannah whose husband, Ivan, has returned from duty in Afghanistan following a brain injury. Ivan’s unpredictable behavior bothers their neighbor, Marilyn, the president of the local Neighborhood Restoration Association. Marilyn’s antics motivate Hannah and Ivan to reenter mainstream society.

Nathan Vader, a senior English writing major and theater minor, will direct. Supporting actors include sophomore Benjie Aquilera Brown; junior Christina Hofer; and freshman Miranda Earnhart. Brea Reimer, junior, is costume designer, and Robert Lerch, senior, is sound designer.

The concluding act will be a screening of original film shorts directed by Samuel Jones and 2012 Goshen College alumnus Jacob Landis-Eigsti. Jones’ shorts will include “Ice Fishing” and “Drift Along,” both featuring music by Takenobu. Jones’ work features a stop-motion technique. Landis-Eigsti’s shorts will include “Monopoly,” a movie trailer; “Adventure With Me,” featuring Phoebe Sharp; “Ever Romantic Comedy Ever,” a movie trailer; and “The Last Love.”

Professor of Theater Doug Liechty Caskey is the producer for the show and Assistant Professor of Theater Andrew Moeggenborg is the technical director. Other members of the production team for the Winter One Acts include: senior Levi Smucker (Winnipeg, Manitoba) as house manager, freshman Blake Shetler (Goshen) as stage manager, senior Gwen Stephan (Goshen) as light designer, freshman Natalie Hubby (Wauseon, Ohio) as props manager, freshman Hannah Sauder (Lititz, Pa.) as hair and make-up designer, freshman Ben Ganger (Goshen) as light board director, senior Robert Lerch (Spring Valley, N.Y.) as sound board operator, sophomore Alan Smith (Lodi, N.Y.) as master carpenter, junior Natasha Weisenbeck (Cliftion, Ill.) as costume shop manager, Alan Smith and Andrew Moeggenborg as set construction, senior Hannah Bartel (Iowa City, Iowa) as photographer, senior Hannah Grieser (Goshen) as poster and program designer and Dani Baugher, Anna Latasha, Keyonna McCane, Christine Stubblefield and Rosa Wyse as student ASL interpreters.

Tickets for the show cost $3, and are available through the Welcome Center by calling (574) 535-7566, emailing welcomecenter@goshen.edu, online at goshen.edu/tickets or at the Umble Center Box Office an hour before the show. There will be no intermission.