“New Providence” will open Friday at 7 p.m. at the Webster Theater Featured in the film is Taylor McKinney, a Webster City High School basketball stand out, who plays one of the New Providence players. She said that she decided on a whim to audition for the film back in August 2019. She was selected to play one of the high school basketball players.

“We filmed on weekends since I was actually playing basketball then. I would drive from Webster City to New Providence, where it was filmed,” she said. “It was actually a really cool experience.”

“Meeting the new people, the actors and actresses and everyone involved was quite a memorable experience,” she said.

McKinney will visit with movie patrons before the Friday night showing, according to Webster Theater manager Ann McLaughlin.

Heather Geerdes

That’s McKinney’s only opportunity to see the movie in her hometown. She attends Iowa Central and plays basketball for the school.

“I’m actually going to the national tournament with Iowa Central on Sunday,” she said.

Heather Geerdes also appears in the film and said she worked behind the scenes as well.

“It was a really fun film to be part of,” Geerdes said.

The movie tells the story of Jimmy Voss, New York sportswriter who is sent to a small Iowa town to cover the final season of the state’s six-on-six girls basketball in 1993. What Voss encounters is a passion for the sport by the coach and the team, and a love for the small town, according to a press release about the film.

The screenplay’s author, Jack Smith, actually moved to New Providence in 1993 to run a business and quickly became interested in the game.

“Being a basketball and history junkie, I soon learned that in Iowa, girls six-on-six basketball was what high school football is to Texas and boy’s high school basketball is to Indiana,” Smith said in a 2019 press release. He said he interviewed players, coaches and fans, as well as studying articles as he wrote the piece.

“Six-on-six basketball was very special and a small town’s status and spirit was often based on how far its girls’ team advanced in the state tournament,” he said.

The movie will also be shown Saturday and Sunday, and Tuesday through Thursday at 7 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday and a 1 p.m. showing on Thursday.