Trust me: the play will be worth going to for the wig she wears and the throwback shoes alone, I swear to you.

Local actor and fount-of-good-cheer Marcia Cassanova will portray Erma Bombeck, 40 years ago the most widely distributed columnist in America, in At Wit’s End, a one-woman play, Friday and Saturday (January 11 & 12) at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 at Shreveport Little Theatre.

Most of the tickets have been sold: call 318.424.4439 and get you one of the few left for $15.

Erma was syndicated in about 900 papers because of her humor and everydayness and her wit, and this is back when everybody read the paper.

Things have changed, but Erma’s wit and wisdom have not.

“This is a wonderful show because each member of the audience will identify with every word Erma says,” Marcia said. “So many things in the world have changed drastically over the years, but Erma speaks universal truths about parenthood and the joys and sorrows that come with being a wife, mother and dedicated advocate for women’s rights. What I love most about this play is that I slip immediately into the character of Erma because, being a wife and mother myself, I have lived a version of the things she writes.”

Unlike the time 20 years ago when Marcia was my Aunt Margarite and I was her nephew Junior in some country farce on the SLT stage, this is a one-person gig. No Junior up there to save you, Margarite!

“Like all of us, Erma switches subjects quickly, and there are places in the script where she doesn’t give me a clue what she is going to say next,” Marcia said. “But Anna Maria Patton and David  Brown have worked tirelessly to think of ways to maneuver around the literary mine fields. And Melina Keele with lights and Barry Butler with sound effects can be real lifesavers.”

Erma was. This is her. She was funny, but her life was no bowl of cherries. It was much like ours. You’ll relate. And you’ll love the wig.

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