Arizona Theatre Company Brings ERMA BOMBECK: AT WIT'S END Comes To Herberger Theater

Erma Bombeck, a national treasure who wrote so many of her hysterical life-inspired columns from her home in Arizona, comes to life in Arizona Theatre Company's (David Ivers, Artistic Director; Billy Russo Managing Director) production of Erma Bombeck: At Wit's End at the Herberger Theater Center, 222 E. Monroe, from Nov. 15 through Dec. 2.

Single tickets are now on sale at the box office and through the website, www.arizonatheatre.orgas are a range of flexible season-ticket packages. Single tickets prices start at $25. Additional fees may apply. Group ticket prices are available for groups of 10 and more.

ATC has just announced that pre-paid parking passes for the Chase Garage will now be available for purchase for ALL Subscriber packages. This pre-paid pass is at a reduced rate of $12 per pass (normally $18.) Previously this benefit was only available for our 6-Play subscribers. Parking passes for mini- subscription packages (3-,4-,5- Play) and Flex Passes are only available for purchase by calling the Phoenix Box Office.

The 2018/2019 season is dedicated to Geri Silvi, ATC's long-time Box Office Manager in Phoenix. The season is sponsored by I. Michael and Beth Kasser. The Arizona Republic/AZ Central is the media sponsor.

Directed by Casey Stangl, who returns to ATC where she directed Lombardi, Jessica Pearson wrote in DC Theatre Scene.com that Erma Bombeck: At Wit's End" is full of the wit and wisdom of the woman herself ... leading the audience through her years as a mother and housewife who lampooned life in the suburbs in her weekly (then tri-weekly, then heavily syndicated) newspaper column called "At Wit's End."

Tony-nominated actress Jeanne Paulsen (The Kentucky Cycle) stars in this one-woman show that takes acomic look at one of our country's most beloved voices - a voice that reassures us that yes, the world is sometimes crazy, but if we look at it and laugh, we have most of it covered.

From her troubled childhood, where she found comfort in the words of Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley, through her rise to fame as a journalist and public figure, it's the story behind America's beloved humorist who championed women's lives with wit that sprang from the most unexpected place of all - the truth.

A year after Erma launched her column for the local Ohio newspaper Kettering-Oakwood Timesin 1964, she was writing twice-weekly columns for the Dayton Journal Herald. Three weeks later, the columns went into national syndication, appearing in 36 major U.S. newspapers three times a week. By 1969, 500 newspapers and a number of magazines, Redbook, McCall's, Family Circleand even Teen among them, featured her columns. That number reached 900 newspapers and 30 million readers by 1978. She moved to Phoenix in the late 1960s.

During the period from 1965 to 1996, Erma wrote more than 4,000 newspaper columns and published 15 books, most becoming bestsellers.

Members of the Bombeck family will participate in post-show discussions on the following performance dates. Please note that dates are subject to change.

November 29 & 30 at the 7:30pm performances

December 1 at 7:30 pm & December 2, 2pm

Erma Bombeck: At Wit's End will be followed by The Music Man, Music and Lyrics by Meredith Willson, Book by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey, directed by David Ivers (Phoenix: Jan. 5-27, 2019). Two Trains Running, by August Wilson, directed by Lou Bellamy (Phoenix: Feb. 14 - March 3); American Mariachi, by José Cruz González (Phoenix: April 4-21) and Things I Know to be True, by Andrew Bovell, directed by Mark Clements (Phoenix: May 16 - June 2).

To post a comment, you must register and login.