Acting

ERMA BOMBECK: AT WIT'S END

Erma Bombeck, one of our country’s most beloved humorists, captured the frustrations of her generation by asking, “If life is a bowl of cherries, what am I doing in the pits?” Starring “Suburban Outlaw®” and columnist Pam Sherman, this is the story behind America’s favorite average housewife who championed the lives of women with an incomparable wit that sprang from the most unexpected place of all — the truth.

By Margaret Engel and Allison Engel; Directed by Mark Cuddy; Starring Pam Sherman as Erma Bombeck. The overwhelming audience demand and sold-out performances in Rochester, Denver, Buffalo, and Cleveland prompted theaters in other cities to bring the show to its stages.

In 2024, Pam will be bringing At Wit’s End to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in September, and Des Moines in December.

in the news…

In the News

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Share a laugh with a literary genius in “Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End” at Cleveland Play House.

A Must-See Play WKYC 3 Good Company

Joe and Hollie talk with Pam Sherman about her role in "Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End," which you can catch at Cleveland Play House!

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Bombeck became a household name in the 1970s and 1980s, and gave voice to the everyday joys and struggles faced by women of all ages, while being a mother, daughter, and “domestic demigoddess.”

Cleveland Play House presenting ‘Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End’

“One of our early memories was our mom at the dining room table holding The Cleveland Plain Dealer,” said Allison, calling from Pasadena, California. “She was laughing so hard that the newspaper was shaking. We’re going, ‘Mom, what’s so funny?”

“The only two words she could manage to get out were ‘Erma Bombeck.’ Shortly after that, we’d come home from school and fling the paper down on the ground so we could both read her column at the same time.”

what people are saying…

At Wits End reviews

“Sherman…steps into Bombeck’s shoes and imparts her quirky wit with impeccable timing and the same good-humored, matter-of-fact delivery you would have expected from Bombeck herself.”

Beyond the Nest

“Sherman captures Bombeck’s trademark wit.”

Democrat & Chronicle

More Interviews

Check out more interviews with Pam Sherman!

In the news

Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC

Shear Madness is the longest running play in the history of the USA. This unique comedy-whodunit takes place today in the Shear Madness hairstyling salon and is chock full of up-to-the-minute spontaneous humor. During the course of the action, a murder is committed and the audience gets to spot the clues, question the suspects, and solve the funniest mystery in the annals of crime. The outcome is never the same, which is why many audience members return again and again to the scene of the mayhem.

Pumping Josey: Life and Death in Suburbia

Co-written by Pam Sherman and Caleen Sinnette Jennings and directed by David Hilder. This one-woman show premiered at Horizon's Theatre, the oldest women's theater in America and was performed nationally in a variety of venues including, Snug Harbor Cultural Center and the Queen’s Museum in New York City.

“Pumping Josey” invites us into the life of a thirty-something mother who is struggling with her career ambitions as she simultaneously nurses her newborn, and reels with the shock of her best-friend’s unexpected death. Suddenly, against the backdrop of not existing at all, life feels very different for Josey, so she summons the help of relatives (dead and alive) and personal heroes as disparate as Hannah Senesh, Anna Freud, and Mary Todd Lincoln to help her search for answers in the suburban wasteland. Ms Sherman portrays 10 characters creating a virtuoso evening that will both touch and amaze audiences.

Pumping Josey 049.jpg — “its one entertaining and rip-roaring ride along the way”

-Arlington Sun Gazette

Film and television

On Stage