Leaving Iowa

I really enjoyed directing Leaving Iowa. Audience members could totally relate to the chaos of family road trips and the opportunity to develop some silly side characters was great! We used one large projection screen behind the car and that really helped with establishing locations. To have the accompaniment CD is an amazing bonus.

Sarah Witt, Cambridge Public Schools, Cambridge, Neb.

Leaving Iowa was a huge success for our small theater coming out of the pandemic. Everyone loved it. The cast, our patrons, are still talking about it weeks later! Had we known how great it would have been received we would have booked it for another weekend. Such a fun show!

Angela Leonard, Old Fort Players, Fort Madison, Iowa

This was a new thing for us, doing a play. We are a small school and this play worked great for us. No real scene changes [and] the CD with sound effects was a huge plus.

Rusty Ruggles, Aledo High School, Aledo, Ill.

Leaving Iowa was the "perfect storm" ... a play the actors, director and audience could all embrace. While offering belly-laugh moments, it still manages to be a beautiful father-son story. The play is simply "genuine." I highly recommend it!

Rene Mauck, Muscatine High School, Muscatine, Iowa

Historically funny production to which audience members can really relate.

Annette Rubin, Oelwein High School, Oelwein, Iowa

A wonderful combination of nostalgia and humor, tears and laughter. One parent commented, "I like a Broadway musical as much as the next gal, but this show made me think. And I enjoyed the process." Familiar without being cliched. Lots of room for character development, over-the-top acting.

Stephen Duennebier, Brunswick School, Greenwich, Conn.

Excellent vehicle for teaching both serious drama and comedy to actors within the same package. A lovely play about reconciling the past with the present.

Cheryl Neidt, Springfield Public School, Springfield, Minn.

Tremendous audience response. Play succeeds as a comedy and nostalgia. Many audience members could relate to their own family car vacations. Sound track was superb.

John Lewinski, Alpine Playhouse, McCall, Idaho

Leaving Iowa is a heartwarming comedy. Our theatre rocked with laughter! At the end, people were coming out with happy, tear-streaked cheeks. The cast and audience loved this play!

Barbara Keith, Lanesboro Community Theater, Lanesboro, Minn.

What a marvelous play! A great combination of laugh-out-loud hilarious and tender, redemptive, sentimental family love. Our audiences loved it and we had bigger houses by far than usual. The writing is excellentÑso perfectly reflects the backseat and front seat family vacation experiences before the "plug-in" generation.

Ann Dolan, Lancaster Community Players, Lancaster, Wis.

A simply beautiful comedy.

Jeff Daniels, The Purple Rose Theatre Company