The Rainmaker

Father and sons discuss the drought

Never trust a con man. Unless a drought is killing your cattle, your daughter can’t find a suitor, your youngest son believes he is as dumb as a rock and your older son is the biggest pain in the okole.

And that’s how The Rainmaker takes off. Presented by Kaua‘i Community Players, this 1954 American classic play written by N. Richard Nash marked the directorial debut of Bard Widmer, who delivered a witty, romantic, gripping and insightful play.

For three weekends in May, back-to-back sold out shows at the Puhi Theatrical House offered a glimpse into the Midwest during the Great Depression.

Lizzie Curry, (Rebecca Hanson), is the only woman in a family of four. Lizzie’s father, H.C. Curry (Morgan Lidell) will stop at nothing to get Lizzie to marry someone, whether he’s the town’s deputy sheriff (Fili Leasau) or a con man strangely named Starbuck (Ian Foster) who arrives in town and takes money in exchange of promising rain. Lizzie’s brothers (Jim Warrack and Bailey Hutton) and the sheriff (Bruce Fehring) are all in it for reasons of their own.

If you missed The Rainmaker, you can still watch the 1956 movie starring Katherine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster; with an adapted screenplay by Nash himself.