When I first heard the tag line of “Leaving Iowa,” – “a comedy about family vacations” – I was a little skeptical about the play. Family vacations aren’t really on the level of girls with radium poisoning battling against a major corporation (“Radium Girls”), a torn jury deciding the fate of a suspect (“Twelve Angry Men”) or some of other gripping plays that Theatre Central has done.

With that attitude, I walked into the black box theater, sat down in the front row and proceeded to both laugh hysterically and be touched by the family interactions in “Leaving Iowa.”

In short, I was thrilled by a combination of the impact of the new set-up, acting and overall relatability of the performance.

The first thing I noticed was the different set-up of the theater. Reminiscent of a Greek amphitheater, the stage was no more than a flat floor surrounded on three sides by rising rows of chairs. The first row of chairs is level with the stage area, so I was sitting two meters away from most actors. Some minor scenes even utilized the corridors between rows of chairs or had actors sitting in the audience chairs, creating a unique feeling of participation in the scene. Because of this, I sometimes had to suppress an urge to answer a question that an actor posed or in other ways participate in the scene.

This stage set-up can go both ways. For a regular theater goer such as myself, it was unnerving and exciting sitting so close to the actors. On the other hand, the relative lack of separation between the actors and audience takes away from the surrealism that surrounds a standard stage.

Even more than the stage set-up, however, I was utterly blown away by the acting. Having seen Tom Wojcik in previous plays, there is no doubt in my mind that this is his best performance.

The sibling spats between Nick Ciliak and Georgia Stirtz and a loving, worried mom in Emma Lindley were so wonderfully believable that I’m sure most of the audience thought of their own siblings, long car trips and frustrated yet caring parents.

That, in essence, is the best part of “Leaving Iowa.” No matter your age or background, you would be able to envision yourself as one of the characters as easily as you would find yourself howling with laughter.

Saying the performance is about family vacations does not do it justice. The play is about family relationships and experiences of regret and loss that we can all identify with. For that, the cast and crew of “Leaving Iowa” deserve a standing ovation.

Tickets are $5 and the play will run on Nov. 4, 5, 11 and 12 at 8 p.m. in the black box theater.