HOMESTEAD, Iowa — Four one-act comedies written by an Iowa-born playwright who spent decades in New York City will receive their first public reading in the Amana Colonies.
The Iowa Plays by Kathe Mull will be performed Saturday, October 10, at the Homestead Village Church Museum, 4210 V Street, Homestead. The and TKM Theatrical Productions are presenting the reading, with doors opening at 5 p.m. and the performance starting at 5:30 p.m.
Tickets cost $25 and are available online at amanaheritage.org/store or by calling the Amana Heritage Society at 319-622-3567. Admission includes an intermission menu featuring an "Amana-rite" sandwich, the local version of Iowa's famous Maid-Rite sandwich.
Event organizers say Mull was born and raised in Muscatine and attended Muscatine Community College on a drama scholarship before performing with The Old Creamery Theatre Company. She spent eight years with the resident acting company at Charlie's Showplace in Des Moines before moving to New York City more than 45 years ago.
Despite living in Manhattan for decades, Mull says she turned back to Iowa for inspiration.
"As I explored what healing might look like in our current moment, I kept returning to my home state and hometown as the natural backdrop for a story about peace, connection, and community," Mull said in the press release.
The plays follow friends in their later years as they face life's challenges with warmth and gentle humor. Their stories unfold through the familiar rhythms of small-town life—chance encounters, meals together, memories revisited, laughter and friendship during difficult moments.
Mull describes the plays as a celebration of "the quiet ways we care for one another" and the healing power of "friendship, community, laughter, and human connection."
Organizers say the performance brings together theatrical relationships stretching back decades. TKM Theatrical Productions' Deb Kennedy and Tom Milligan have known Mull through their work in Iowa theatre. Mull previously directed On Golden Pond, starring Milligan and Kennedy, and later returned to Iowa to perform The Guys, a play dealing with the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Kennedy says Mull has remained a faithful friend despite a busy theatrical life that now includes traveling internationally as a costume assistant with performance artist and costume designer Machine Dazzle. Knowing that Kennedy and Milligan were producing theatre in Amana, Mull shared The Iowa Plays with them.
"Kathe is very kind and treats me as if she has known me as long as she has known Tom," Kennedy said. "Basically, she treats me like family."
Mull says she hopes audiences will "find a little of themselves in these Iowa stories." She's also looking forward to her first Maid-Rite since 1974.
"Without ketchup, of course," Mull said.