Wit

A DRAMATISTS PLAY SERVICE TITLE

Wit

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  3w, 3m

Margaret Edson

Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama! A celebrated but exacting professor of metaphysical poetry, Vivian Bearing has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. A striking and sharply funny reflection on the frailty of existence.

Image: 2012 Manhattan Theatre Club Production (Joan Marcus)

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Wit

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 3m
  • Duration
    Duration
    105 Minutes
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades

  • Winner! 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
    Winner! 1999 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best New Play

Details

Summary

Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama! A striking and sharply funny reflection on the frailty of existence and the complex relationship between knowledge and love. A celebrated but exacting professor of metaphysical poetry, Vivian Bearing has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. It seems her life is nearing its final chapter. As she submits herself to an experimental treatment, Vivian approaches her illness with the same uncompromising rigour she brings to bear on the sonnets of John Donne. Through it all she comes to reassess her life and her work with profundity and a moving wry humor.

History
Wit, also stylized as W;t, premiered off-Broadway at Union Square Theater (produced by MCC Theater, Long Wharf Theatre and Daryl Roth) on January 7, 1999. Directed by Derek Anson Jones, the production starred Kathleen Chalfant, with Walter Charles, Alex Phoenix, Paula Pizzi and Helen Stenborg.
Keywords
Performing Groups

VIVIAN BEARING, PH.D. – 50; Professor of 17th Century Poetry at the University
HARVEY KELEKIAN, M.D. – 50; Chief of Medical Oncology, University Hospital
JASON POSNER, M.D. – 28; Clinical Fellow, Medical Oncology Branch
SUSIE MONAHAN, R.N., B.S.N. – 28; Primary Nurse, Cancer Inpatient Unit
E. M. ASHFORD, D.PHIL – 80; Professor Emerita of English Literature
MR. BEARING – Vivian’s father
LAB TECHNICIANS
CLINICAL FELLOWS
STUDENTS
CODE TEAM

This play may be performed with a cast of nine: The four Technicians, Fellows, Students and Code Team Members should double; Dr. Kelekian and Mr. Bearing should double.

This play may be performed with a cast of nine: the four Technicians, Fellows, Students and Code Team Members should double; Dr. Kelekian and Mr. Bearing should double.

  • Time Period Contemporary, Present Day
  • Setting

    A room of the University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center. The present.

  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Additional Features No Intermission
  • Duration 105 Minutes

Media

“A genuinely life-enhancing play about death.” – The Guardian

“[A] brutally human and beautifully layered new play… you feel both enlightened and, in a strange way, enormously comforted.” – The New York Times

“A dazzling and humane new play that you will remember till your dying day.” – New York Magazine

Photos

  • Wit

    Image: 2012 Manhattan Theatre Club Production (Joan Marcus)

  • Wit

    Image: 2012 Manhattan Theatre Club Production (Joan Marcus)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £85 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Authors

Margaret Edson

Margaret Edson
Margaret Edson lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is an elementary school teacher. Between earning degrees in history and literature, she worked in the cancer and AIDS unit of a research hospital. WIT is her first play.
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