About the Play:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

Winner of the 1980 Chalmers Canadian Play Award

Automatic Pilot is a full-length dramatic comedy by Erika Ritter. The author worked as a stand-up comic to research the role of Charlie, a screwed-up young woman who writes for a TV series by day, moonlights as a stand-up comic by night, and discovers that her countless failed relationships are the source of her creative and comic powers. Automatic Pilot is an expose of modern relationships.

Automatic Pilot is about the pitfalls of dating, drinking and doing stand-up in the 1980s; a time when a girl with a way with words could rise to be the Head Writer on a successful TV series and there was money to be made in the thriving Canadian film industry. Armed with a biting sense of humour, served with a generous amount of self deprecation, Charlie decides to quit writing for TV and try her luck as a stand-up comic. She impresses and earns a regular spot at a Toronto club called The Canada Goose. She uses her performance routines to work through the insecurities that have overwhelmed her. But it's hard to believe your own hype when you tend to get drunk and wake up in strange beds with total non-recall. Good thing Charlie has experience thinking on her feet! Automatic Pilot is about a stand-up comedian who discovers the power of creating comedy to help her through hard times in her life.

Automatic Pilot premiered in 1980 at the Adelaide Court Theatre in Toronto. It transferred to the Bayview Playhouse and became a commercial success, winning the 1980 Chalmers Award. This Canadian classic has been performed at theatres across Canada, in the U.S., and abroad.

Cast: 1 female, 3 male

What people say:

"...comedy by a very funny playwright ... the play is outstanding entertainment. To Miss Ritter, comedy is not an end but a tool for caring about the characters she creates." — The Globe and Mail

"Automatic Pilot is a rare find, a fast, fresh and seriously funny comedy that makes you laugh even when it hurts. Ritter's ear for dialogue is acute, and Charlie's standup segments ring funny and true, even when she's bombing – the brisk script brings out the tightrope tension of the professional comic's performance." — Washington Post

"...a sharp, reverberating and effective piece of dramatic writing that hits hard." — Vancouver Sun

About the Playwright:

Erika Ritter is a Canadian novelist, playwright, essayist and creative non-fiction writer. Her published works include a number of plays – principally Automatic Pilot – two collections of humour, and a novel. For more than three decades, beginning in the 1980s, she hosted and guest-hosted numerous current affairs, arts, drama and music programs on CBC Radio. Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, she now lives in Toronto.