Come early and enjoy a meal before the show. Bring Grandma, Grandpa and the kids - this is good, clean family fun. Kick back and relax, there will be plenty of leg room and one parking space will serve for the entire evening.

These are just some of the perks that come along with the latest offering from Racine's Over Our Head Players. The theater troupe, which usually performs at the Sixth Street Theater, 318 Sixth St., is venturing outside its "box" once again by offering its first-ever dinner theater show which opens this weekend at Down-town's Festival Hall.

"Leaving Iowa," a family vacation comedy by Tim Clue and Spike Manton, will be the main event and an optional dinner package, prepared by Danny's Meats & Catering, will be served prior to the show.

The entire experience is one that members of the OOHP have been wanting to offer their patrons for some time, according to Rich Smith, artistic director of the troupe and director of "Leaving Iowa."

"We've had some experience with something similar way back when we were at George's Tavern," Smith said, referring to OOHP's early days performing at the tavern just north of the Root River. "We partnered with our good friends over at the Yardarm (Bar & Grill). People went to the Yardarm for dinner and then walked over to George's for the performance."

While that dinner/theater arrangement was very popular with patrons, the logistics of organizing it all were a bit much for the completely volunteer organization that is the OOHP, Smith said. This time around, they have made it easier for all involved by hosting the entire evening in one location.

Seating will be set up cabaret style in Festival Hall and those patrons who wish to dine before the show will arrive an hour before performance time. All dinners, which cost $20 each, will include both Chicken Marsala and beef medallions with mushrooms, herb-roasted potatoes, vegetable medley, dinner rolls, side salad and choice of beverage (including one cocktail). Cash bar service will also be available.

Road trip!

After dinner, all will be treated to the humor and warmth of "Leaving Iowa," a production which Smith says can be enjoyed by everyone from young teenagers to senior citizens. Nominated for Best New Play by the American Theatre Critics Association after premiering at actor Jeff Daniels' Purple Rose Theatre in 2004, "Leaving Iowa" is a unique comedy that speaks especially well to Midwestern audiences, yet has earned national acclaim.

"We are all fascinated, I think, with the classic American family road trip, Smith said.

Those of us who were driven around the country in a station wagon by post-World War II parents on family vacation quests know what he's talking about. It was a time when parents wanted to give their children everything they had - from values to money - and they would try to shove all of that into two weeks of sightseeing, Smith said. "A lot of times, though, it didn't turn out to be what they planned it to be."

In "Leaving Iowa," Don (John Adams), relives his boyhood vacations as he drives across Iowa on his way home from his current life in Boston, for a family event. Most of the story is told in flashbacks, featuring a variety of characters from Don's memories.

Watching actors Cody A. Ernest and Joan Roehre play the majority of those characters is one of the fun things about this show, Smith said. Each is responsible for more than a dozen roles, requiring them to make very swift costume and character changes along the way.

Switching from being a farmer to a supermarket cart attendant to an Amish person - sometimes within a couple minutes - is both incredibly challenging and a blast, said Ernest, who plays the "multiple guy role." "You'd better know what you are doing, or you could end up back out there being the same character you just were," he said.

Having different accents for each character helps, but can also add to the challenge, said Roehre, whose characters range from a fast-talking Southern waitress to a backwoods auto mechanic who does impressions. "That range is what I love about this role," she said.

She and Ernest also appreciate the emotion, as well as the humor, that they say the play evokes.

"This is a show that will make you cry and laugh over and over again," said Roehre. "I know that sounds clichè, but it's the truth. Certain scenes bring tears to my eyes every time I see them."