Sammy Samuelson News Today

Southeastern’s 2022-2023 Mainstage season will come to a close with the world premiere of “The Truth About Winnie Ruth Judd,” a drama written by playwrights Cathy Dresbach and Ben Tyler. The production will hold a preview on Tuesday, April 25; the official run is Wednesday, April 26 to Saturday, April 29.  Dresbach’s and Tyler’s play...

OREGON DIVORCEE AGNES Anne “Annie” LeRoi arrived in Phoenix in the first few months of 1931 with her best friend and roommate, schoolteacher Hedvig “Sammy” Samuelson. They were climate refugees: Sammy had tuberculosis, and at the time the only cure for “consumption” was a dry climate and rest. Back then, many patients with TB waited until they were so far gone that the climate couldn’t save them; essentially, they moved to Arizona to die. Sammy wasn’t one...

Briana Whitney, Serjio Hernandez Back then, Phoenix was a small city in the desert, in the middle of the great depression. Those with status were in power and control. “That was the mentality of that time. It was a man’s world,” said former newspaper reporter Jana Bommersbach. Bommersbach would find herself obsessed with a murder investigation, but 40 years later. “You put a woman away for 40 years, and you’re not sure she committed the crime?” She...