Snowed in at an Iowa motel….fourteen strangers..No Way Out! When the highway closes…the comedy begins…

The Wieting Theatre is proud to present the world premier of Tom Akers comedy in three acts, A Hi-Way Inn Holiday, July 9, 10, and 11th.

The time is Thanksgiving 2019, at the HI-Way Inn, just off of Interstate 35 near Mason City/Clear Lake. Fourteen people, mostly strangers, are thrown together out of necessity during a blizzard. The Hi-Way Inn is owned by Todd and Marge, who were “lucky” enough to inherit the motel. Besides the owners, the stranded characters include: two curmudgeons, one Iowa farmer and the other a Texas Latino rancher, their patient and sometimes bemused farm and rancher wives; two single people who have a possibility of getting together, two free-spirited entertainers, an uptight lawyer and her beleaguered financial manger husband, a tow truck driver, hey it’s a snowstorm, and a very ambitious and odd house keeper. Throw all these people together and tension and comedy can’t be far behind.

The show will be co-directed by Mary Fasse-Shaw and Dixie Forcht. Ellen Moran will share her technical skills as the tech director.

The Wieting Theatre is thrilled to be the first theatre to produce Tom Aker’s work.

Tom Akers, the playwright, was born in Central City, Iowa, where he was involved throughout his early years in both speech and drama. This left a lasting impression on him that reignited when he became a middle school director in Rock Falls, Illinois. For the next 35 years Tom has been involved in writing, producing, directing, coaching, teaching, and acting in plays and musicals in and around the Quad Cities Area.

As a playwright, Tom has over fourteen plays published by Heuer Publishing and Brooklyn Publishing. Tom is thrilled and hopeful to add A Hi-Way Inn Holiday to this list and can’t wait to see what the cast and crew will do with it at the Wieting Theatre in July! “It is one of the most exhilarating things to see your work being performed on stage, to watch the words you’ve put on paper come to life through the words and emotions from the actors is truly the magic of theater.”

Tom lives in Cambridge, Illinois with his wife Kelly, son Evan, and his cat/editor Crystal.

Scripts can be checked out at both the Tama and Toledo Libraries beginning April 13th to May 1st. They may be checked out for three days. Auditions will be held Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, May 4, 5, and 6 at the Wieting Theatre from 4:30 to 7:00 PM. If anyone wants to audition but can’t make those times, please reach out to Mary Fasse-Shaw at thespian@iowatelecom.net; or Dixie Forcht at dixieforcht@gmail.com. The characters range in age from 25-60 plus. Since this is a community play, we will try to cast as close to age as possible. As we have a full interior set, we could use many hands to put the set together and paint as well as find props, costumes, make-up, lights, and sound. If you are interested in helping backstage, please come the nights of rehearsal to fill out an information card.

The directors are looking forward to seeing people at try-outs.