Little Rome Iowa: Three One-act Plays

Set in a mythical small town in Iowa - but rooted in stories and experiences of the author while a professor at Clarke College in Dubuque - these three one-act plays were first published by Samuel French as individual pieces. Now the author has reworked them and added a prologue and epilogue to bind the three into one play that paints a portrait of small-town America that is at once both unique and universal. "Brighten The Corner" tells of the people and places surrounding the death of an old nun at the motherhouse of her order. "A Simple Little Affair" deals with the complex and often comic relationships and the affirmation of faith that is at the heart of every wedding. "An Echo of Wings" calls upon the dead victims of a parochial school fire that claimed the lives of over 90 students and their teachers in an effort to discern a purpose or a meaning behind such a tragedy. Little Rome, Iowa is written in the style of the author's prize-winning play, "A Company of Wayward Saints", a form he calls "phrasing" and which is intended as a guide to the delivery of the actors.