‘At Wit’s End,’ a one-woman play about Erma Bombeck
LATHAM, N.Y. » Almost everyone knows the saying “If life is a bowl of cherries, why is my life the pits?” Too, most people will recognize the title “The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank.”
Perhaps the line, “If you can’t make it better, you can laugh at it” is the most relative to today’s world.
However, you probably have to be of a certain age to identify the writer. She is Erma Bombeck, the newspaper columnist who died in 1996. In her day, which was 1965-1996, Bombeck’s humor pieces ran in over 900 newspapers with an estimated readership of 30-million people. She also had 15 best-selling books to her credit.
On May 20, Curtain Call Theatre in Latham opens “Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End,” a play about her life and writings. Teresa Storti, the actress who is playing Bombeck in this one-woman show says that her research and the time she’s spent in rehearsal has made her very fond of the woman. “I like her a lot. I have the idea she would have made a good friend.”
The actress points out that the idea of being every woman’s friend was Bombeck’s best quality. “The secret to her success is that she seemed so ordinary,” says the actress. As an example of how people felt comfortable with her writing is the way Bombeck described her life as being part of “a typical screwed-up family”.
Says Storti, “The issues she wrote about in her columns were the same issues every housewife in America was facing. The difference was she found a way to make people laugh about everyday life.” Storti believes the play has that same sort of feeling. “It’s conversational in tone and really funny,” she says.
The Johnstown resident has been living in the area for about ten years. Storti has an MFA in acting from the University of Southern California and spent most of her life performing in professional theater in California, Florida, and Vermont.
Though this is her first appearance at Curtain Call Theatre, locally, she has acted at Albany Civic Theatre, Confetti Stage and Home Made Theater in Saratoga, where she also serves on the board of directors.
This is her first onewoman show. Besides the demands of learning almost 90-minutes of solo material, she says her biggest challenge is to create a woman whom you can both admire and be at ease with.
“It wouldn’t make sense to try and do an imitation of Erma Bombeck. My job is to create the character that exists on the page. If I do that, I have captured the spirit of the woman and define who she was as a person.”
Storti points out that it has been 25 years since Bombeck’s last column was printed. She feels people still know of Bombeck, but few people know about Bombeck.
The reason, according to Storti is her skill was writing about daily experiences with family and she kept her columns upbeat. That meant no politics or sad talks about illness or tragedy.
Today, most people are like the actress who says, “I was familiar with her through my mom who was a faithful reader. There was always a column of hers posted somewhere around the house. Doing this play taught me a lot I didn’t know about her.”
One unknown thing was that Bombeck was an activist for the Women’s Rights Amendment serving on the 1978 Presidential Advisory Committee of Women. Her support of the ERA put her in conflict with several Conservative political groups.
On a personal level, this woman who made a career writing about family was told she could not have children. After adopting a baby girl, she later gave birth to two sons. Storti says such revelations about Bombeck’s personal life, especially when combined with her insightful observations about everyday life, makes “At Wit’s End” both personal and funny.
It plays at Curtain Call Theatre, 1 Jeanne Jugan Lane, Latham, May 20 – June 13. Tickets are $28, available at (518) 877-7529.
Socially distant seating is limited. Masks must be worn at all times and ticket holders must show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test within 72 hours of the performance.