When actor Jeff Daniels moved away from the Hollywood community in 1986, many feared that returning home to his Michigan roots would mark the end of his film career. When he founded the Purple Rose Theater Company in 1991, critics claimed that a small-town production company featuring new American plays from Midwestern playwrights couldn’t succeed. And when he took the stage for a 2001 fundraiser, armed with just a guitar and a previously undisclosed talent, people thought he was just another actor pretending to be a musician.
