Chico Artoberfest

A Play in two acts and elegies by Jim Leonard Jr.
Directed by Richard Lauson

In the small farm community of Zion during the Great Depression, water and faith are in short supply.  A charismatic, but back-sliding preacher drifts into town and meets a gentle yet misunderstood boy graced with, the gift of divining or water-witching.  The two seeming outcasts find a common bond and help each other divine for truth, faith and hope.  The townspeople demand the preacher return to a way of life he no longer believes in, driving both characters to a crisis of trust.  Written with a distinctive style and incisive view of the human condition, Jim Leonard Mr.’s earthy, funny, poignant and profoundly moving play has echoes of John Steinbeck’s classic Depression era work.  The Diviners is, at once, a lyrical fable and a fascinating drama bristling with complex psychological undercurrents and hints at Greek tragedy.  Leonard’s bucolic characters are simple but good people searching for hope and something in which to believe.

Presented by Theatre On The Ridge