NOVEMBER 30 • 2023 | 25
J
N
FJA Presents Leaving Iowa
F
rankel Jewish
Academy’s Performing
Arts Department is
excited to present Leaving
Iowa. Written by Tim Clue
and Spike Manton. Leaving
Iowa shines a spotlight on a
comedy that needs little in
the way of explanation — the
delights and disasters of the
typical family road trip.
Don, a successful writer
who resides in Boston,
unleashes a torrent of
memories about his
childhood with Dad, Mom
and Sis when he embarks on
a bittersweet task.
After missing his father’s
funeral three years before and
regretting it ever since, Don
plans to make amends by
visiting his father’s childhood
home where he will inter
Dad’s ashes. Ultimately,
Don’s journey leads him to
reconcile his past and present
at an unpredictable and
perfect final destination.
The show is under the
guidance of Mitch Master,
director of the Performing
and Visual Arts Department,
who has been with FJA since
the school was founded in
2000. The cast includes 12
very talented FJA students
who have been rehearsing
this show for months.
A bittersweet comedy about a family vacation.
JN STAFF
Details
PERFORMANCES: Wednesday, Dec. 6, and Thursday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m.
LOCATION: The Berman Center for the Performing Arts, 6600 W. Maple Road, West
Bloomfield
TICKETS: General admission tickets are $15 each. The Berman will apply a $3 service
fee per ticket. Visit The Berman’s Virtual Box Office: theberman.org or call/text (248)
406-6677
CAST: Samantha Caminker (Dan); Rozalia Aronov (Dad); Emmanuela Arkashevsky
(Mom); Eugenia Aronov (Sis); Eliyah Fradkin (Civil War Guy and Bob); Scout Phillips
(Aunt Phyllis, Judy and Drunk Lady); Jacob Miller (Uncle Phil, Grandpa, Joe Hoefinger
and Fred); Talia Glass (Fruit Cart Lady / Amish Gal /Jessie); Parker Ellenbogen (Jack
Singer); Lauren Carroll (Grandma /Amish Guy /Hotel Clerk); Shira Yamstein (Shopping
Lady, Museum Assistant, Wayne and Bartender); Jillian Schiffer (Fruit Cart Guy, Cart
Chaser and Jamie).
Produced by special arrangement with the Dramatic Publishing Company of
Woodstock, Illinois.
The cast of
Leaving Iowa
Guilty Plea in
East Lansing
Synagogue Threat
Seann Pietila, a 19-year-old
Michigan man, pleaded guilty
Nov. 13 to threatening to com-
mit a mass shooting targeting
Jewish people in a series of
Instagram messages, authorities
said.
On the notes app of Pietila’s
iPhone, investigators found the
name of Congregation Shaarey
Zedek in East Lansing, a date
and a list of weapons, including
bombs, Molotov cocktails and
guns, according to the com-
plaint.
The messages “demonstrated
sympathy with neo-Nazi ideol-
ogy, antisemitism and past mass
shooters,” the U.S. Department
of Justice said in a news release.
The FBI got a report about
Pietila’s online exchange
around June 13, and days later
detained him and served a
search warrant at his home,
where they found firearms, tac-
tical vests, scopes, a Nazi flag,
black skull masks and other
items, according to the crimi-
nal complaint.
Seann Pietila exchanged mes-
sages with another Instagram
user in June about committing a
mass killing and streaming the
attack online, according to the
indictment. In at least one of the
messages highlighted by prose-
cutors, Pietila specifically refer-
enced wanting to inspire others
to “take arms against the Jewish
controlled state.”
Pietila pleaded guilty to a sin-
gle federal charge of transmitting
threatening communications in
interstate commerce. He faces
up to five years in prison, a
$250,000 fine and three years of
supervised release. His sentenc-
ing will be held in March, and
he will no longer be allowed to
possess any firearms, according
to the Justice Department.