Colin Nacions experience casted in The Diviners

David Bernauer, Reporter

Junior Colin Nacion starred as Buddy Layman in the MHS production of “The Diviners,” a play that takes place in the fictional town of Zion, Indiana, during the Great Depression. It centers on Nacion’s character’s fear of water and his friendship with C.C. Showers, an ex-preacher who comes to town.

The play had four different showings from November 15 through 17. Throughout his time with Mundelein’s Theater program, Nacion has played roles in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “City of Angels,” “Figments” and “Les Miserables.”

 

As best as you can, describe what The Diviners is all about.

It surrounds a kid I play, his name is Buddy, and he has a gift to sense when it’s going to rain or finding water in the ground. The one problem is with my power to find water is that I have a crippling fear of water because my character almost drowned as a kid. C.C. Showers gets introduced to the story, an ex-preacher who’s trying to find work, and he ends up in the town of Zion. He meets Buddy, and it surrounds C.C. trying to get Buddy to overcome his issue.

 

How has playing Buddy been a unique experience for you as an actor?

Playing Buddy is definitely one of the more fun and complex roles I’ve ever played; it’s only my second lead role. It’s really interesting. I’ve never played anything like Buddy before. There’s a lot of research going into it having to play a mentally challenged kid. He’s just so much fun. In the script, there’s not much given to him; he’s pretty shallow as a character, and there’s a lot that you can work with and make your own. I’ve really made Buddy as sweet as possible to like him, and he’s just such a fun character to play.

 

What separated this production from those you’ve mentioned being a part of?

In particular, one really notable thing is this is probably the smallest cast I’ve ever been in; there’s only eleven people. All of us in this play are either juniors or seniors, so there wasn’t much beginner stuff. We kind of just dove right into it. Another thing that was weird with the show was that our director suffered an injury over the summer, so we didn’t have him for the first half of the production. We had two directors, Mr. [Dominick] Basso, and then Mr. [Jonathan] Meier.

 

Why should people [eventually see a production] of “The Diviners?”

People should come see the show because it’s so fun; there’s so many aspects of the show. It’s going to make you laugh; it’s going to make you cry, and there’s just a lot of thought put into it. You can definitely feel every single one of the characters. It’s pretty relatable, too, even if it’s in the 1930s. There’s people dealing with their own issues, like C.C. trying to help Buddy out. Ferris [Buddy’s father] has an emotional disconnection with Buddy because of his mentality. There’s Jenni Mae, who is Buddy’s sister; she’s forced to play Buddy’s mother figure because their mother passed away. It’s a really heavy show, so if you’re in to that, it’s just going to be really, really good. It’s a great show.