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. 

