ROCHELLE — The Vince Carney Community Theater will present its production of “Leaving Iowa” on Friday, April 19 & 26 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, April 20 & 27 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 21 at 2 p.m.

“Leaving Iowa” is a play written by Rochelle native Tim Clue and Spike Manton. The VCCT show will be directed by Amy Frank and Terry Camplain. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.vcctrochelle.org/ 

Leaving Iowa is the story of Don Browning, a middle-aged writer, who decides to finally take his father’s ashes to his childhood home. When Don discovers the house is now a grocery store, he begins traveling across Iowa searching for a proper resting place for his father. The road trip shifts back and forth smoothly from the present to Don’s memories of the annual, torturous vacations of his childhood. Leaving Iowa is a postcard to anyone who has ever found themselves driving alone on a road, revisiting fond memories of their youth.

​”It's a cast of six,” Frank said. “Half of the cast is veterans of VCCT that have been on our stage multiple times in various capacities. The other three are brand new to our theater. Tim Clue is now a professional comedian and this show has been performed nationwide. It's nice for us to have something locally written. He was a fourth-grade student of one of our actors, Sally Sawicki. The time warping of the show sets it apart, how it goes back and forth from present day to his memories.”

Frank said the play was chosen by VCCT for a number of reasons, including having a smaller cast and not requiring a large investment of time and money for things like set work. VCCT is in the midst of renovations to its new home at the Lincoln Arts Center at 108 S. Main Street in the former space of Lincoln Elementary School and is currently prioritizing budgeting.

The play is family-friendly, Frank said and would likely have a PG or PG-13 rating if it was a movie. She said attendees will be able to relate to the family road trips that they took as children. Camplain agreed. 

“It's just a good, fun, family-friendly show,” Camplain said. “It's a good time. You can take a couple of hours and forget about things and come and enjoy a night.”

Last month, a ribbon cutting was held for the Lincoln Arts Center, and it is now available for rentals and non-VCCT events. Frank said current and future projects include new windows going into the green room, an installation to help with the echo in the theater, a new retrofitted curtain on the stage taken from Paddock Hall at Hickory Grove, and renovations to the front entryway. 

While the “Leaving Iowa” show will consist of a small cast, Frank said that the work that goes into a show like it still adds up and thanked the cast and crew for their time. 

“Our cast has committed two months of their lives,” Frank said. “It's not just the time in rehearsals, it's all the time invested at home running lines and making their families run lines with them. And it's not just the actors on stage. It's all of the people behind the scenes that are finding us props and working our technical booth and setting the programs. Our light and sound people were here for three days straight programming our light cues. It's a lot of time and energy and blood, sweat and tears.”