Road-Trip Hit Leaving Iowa Gets Licensing Deal
By Kenneth Jones
29 Apr 2008
Leaving Iowa, the award-winning comedy written by Chicago playwrights Tim Clue and Spike Manton, has been picked up by Dramatic Publishing for future licensing.
The heartfelt comic play about family road trips has been seen in a dozen productions around the country. Its West Coast premiere will be this fall at The Laguna Playhouse Nov. 11-Dec. 14. Clue will direct, as he did the critically acclaimed, year-long production at Chicago's Royal George Theatre.
The play was originally conceived as a screenplay, and the authors said they hope that the Laguna booking catches the eye of a movie producer.
Dramatic Publishing is headquartered outside Chicago. Chris Sergel, vice president of Dramatic Publishing, said in a statement, "This is a comedy that deserves to play on the top stages in the country. This is one of those rare comedies that takes a common theme like tormented family travel, but elevates it with a touching and personal story."
According to the writers, "Leaving Iowa shines a bright, comedic light on that nostalgic era when station wagons and family vacations were inseparable partners. It is the story of a middle-aged writer who returns home to Winterset, Iowa to search for the perfect spot to scatter his father's ashes. Along the way, he reconciles his relationship with his father, while reliving the classic road trips he spent traveling with the family as a young boy in Iowa."
The licensed productions will continue to feature the original musical score by Bruce Roper of the popular Chicago folk trio Sons of the Never Wrong.
Manton and Clue's new play, as previously reported, is Standing in Mattoon. Also set in the Midwest (Mattoon, IL), the play begins on the final day of a hands-on-a-van endurance contest, "where we learn why a small town preacher trying to hold onto to his shrinking congregation, and a recently divorced bagel factory worker, are hanging on to the hope that this competition will bring needed dramatic change to their lives."
For more information visit www.leavingiowa.com.
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