06
F E AT U R E APRIL 6, 2018
M I R A C L E
S E A S O N
Hollywood has come to Iowa City, turning a hometown miracle into a nationwide inspiration. BY JENNA WANG
O
n March 18, hundreds of community members arrived at the Englert Theatre for the red-carpet hometown premiere of “The Miracle Season,” a movie that chronicles the story of the Women of Troy’s back-to-back volleyball state championships. Set in 2011, West High’s volleyball team, fresh off a recent championship, loses their star player and team captain Caroline ‘Line’ Found in a moped accident just as the new season takes hold. Her teammates are faced with insurmountable grief, just as her father Ernie Found deals with the loss of his daughter Caroline and wife Ellyn, who passes away a week after Caroline’s funeral due to end-stage cancer. Under the leadership of former coach Kathy Bresnahan, the team would overcome all odds to win yet another state championship against rival City High. “I remember standing there live when they won the championship, holding Caroline’s picture,” Found said. “I remember standing with tears loaded in my eyes and thinking, ‘God, this is so surreal.’ This is unbelievable that this happened. I almost felt like it was so surreal of, ‘man, this is almost like being in a movie.’” He wasn’t alone in feeling this way. LD Entertainment would eventually pick up the movie concept and film for months in Canada, with the basis of the movie being Bresnahan’s book “The Miracle Season” written in her point of view. Although the book was recently released to the public through book signings, it was a product of three summers’ work. “I spent eight hours a day the entire summer vacation writing … about 20,000 words. And not good words,” Bresnahan said. “I’m a coach, not a writer, so I hired a writing coach to read it. It was an interesting process.” Regarding the seriousness of the events that have happened, Found and Bresnahan both have been aware of the expectations of community members for the book and movie, as well as what Hollywood’s portrayal could be. PHOTOS BY SEAN BROWN DESIGN BY JENNA ZENG