The Diviners - A Play in Two Acts and Elegies

A slice of small-town life in the ‘30s, where rain is far more important than electricity, where religion hangs on even without a church, and where everyday toils, like fixing a bicycle, take on an importance often lost in a large city

This is a play about friendship, family and community, and a time when these things were hard to find, and even harder to hold onto

While the rest of the country lays divided and demoralized by the ravages of the Great Depression, the people of this story manage to weather the storm. In a true community, the joys and pains of the individual are shared and shouldered by all, and it is this sense of community that binds these people together, allowing them to persevere with determination, hope and good humor

Possessed by a great respect for the land and those with which they share it, the people of Zion still believe in common courtesy, and the value of a handshake

Stylistically, the play has a hymn-like quality. It is spare, haunting, and yet ultimately human, and filled with warmth. There is a reverence for life in the play, even in its depiction of human frailty and death. There is also a tremendous faith in the human capacity for goodness

Written in 1980, the play was Leonard’s debut as a playwright, winning him the American College Theatre Festival national competition that year. An instant hit, it was then staged at the New York’s Circle Repertory Company. Variety applauded “The Diviners” as “a splendid drama ... with poetic as well as human feeling”