Wit is a striking and sharply funny reflection on the frailty of existence and the complex relationship between knowledge and love. Vivian Bearing, a celebrated but exacting professor of metaphysical poetry, 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 rigor 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.
Wit was first produced at South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa, CA on 24 January 1995. It then premiered off-Broadway at Union Square Theater (produced by MCC Theater, Long Wharf Theatre and Daryl Roth) on 7 January 1999. Directed by Derek Anson Jones, the production starred Kathleen Chalfant, with Walter Charles, Alex Phoenix, Paula Pizzi and Helen Stenborg.
Thirteen years later, the play debuted on Broadway in January 2012 with a celebrated revival at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, in a production starring Cynthia Nixon.