Pumping Josey
“Pumping Josey: Life and Death in Suburbia,” a one-woman show written by Caleen Sinnette Jennings and Pamela Sherman, directed by David Hilder, and performed by Pamela Sherman, premiered at Horizons Theater, the oldest women’s theater in the United States in June 2004. The Arlington Gazette described the show as a “wild ride” and said that Pam Sherman is “more than up to the challenge [of playing 10 characters] as she adapts to each new role with fine acting, perfect timing and incredible energy.”
“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.
Pam Sherman has been described in the Washington Post as a performer with “spot-on comic timing.” She now lives in Rochester, New York and is the author of “The Suburban Outlaw”™ column published by Gannett in Rochester Magazine. Washington, D.C. audiences will remember her from Horizons “In Good Company: The Kosher Edition” and Deborah Tannen’s “Acts of Devotion” as well as “Shear Madness” and many other performances.
Caleen Sinnette Jennings is the award–winning playwright of “Inns and Outs” honored by the Kennedy Center Fund for New Play Development. Ms. Jennings is also the winner of the prestigious Heidmann Award from the Humana Festival. She is currently a full Professor of Theatre/Music at American University.
Director David Hilder is also well-known to Washington, D.C. audiences as both an actor and director. Since relocating to NYC he has amassed many credits, most recently assisting Doug Hughes’ acclaimed production of “Frozen” on Broadway.
Alternately touching and laugh-out-loud funny, this evening of solo performance extends an offer to journey along with a multitude of courageous women - all played by one - as they maneuver the white water rapids of life’s deepest transitions.