"WIT" - by Margaret Edson - City on a Hill Arts (Leominster, MA.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: Debbie Moylan as “Vivian Bearing,” in a scene from Margaret Edson's "WIT" from City on a Hill Arts in Leominster, MA. through February 8, 2025. Photo Credit: Bethany Johnson)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“And I know for a fact that I am tough. A demanding professor. Uncompromising. Never one to turn from a challenge. That is why I chose, while a student of the great E.M. Ashford, to study Donne."
- ("Vivian Bearing") / Margaret Edson
City on a Hill Arts
Presents Margaret Edson's
"WIT"
Written by Margaret Edson
Directed by Bethany Johnson
Stage Manager Eve Eichenholtz
Cast Includes: Debbie Moylan as “Vivian Bearing,” Liz Ruark as “Susie,” Lorien Corbelletti as “E.M. Ashford,” Anthony Kirouac as “Dr. Kelekian,” Noah Jung as “Jason,” Ensemble: Corine Farnsworth, Lillian Maxwell, Avery Columbus, Traci Bartlett, Catrina Vear.
Additional Creative Team:
Producer - Debbie Moylan; Scenic Design - David Allen Prescott; Lighting Design - Matthew Valeri; Projection Design - Sara Fischer; Assistant Stage Manager - Jack Crory; Lighting Crew - James Maxwell, Samantha deManbey, Jack Crory, Matt Valeri; Costumes - CAST; Sound Design - David Allen Prescott.
Performances held at Congregation Agudat Achim, 268 Washington Street, Leominster, MA.
Performances:
February 1, 2025 through February 8, 2025
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
TICKETS:
Free admission with donations welcome
OBTAIN TICKETS
COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
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(Warning: The following review contains spoilers)
City on a Hill Arts kicks off its Tenth Anniversary season with a superb staging of the gripping one-act drama "W;T" (also written as "WIT"* which is how it will be indicated throughout the remainder of this review).
*(Editors Note: On the cover of the published book of the play, the use of a semicolon in place of the letter “I” gives "W;T" as one representation of the play's title. As the play unfolds, it soon becomes clear that the semicolon in context refers to the recurring theme of the use of a semicolon versus a comma in one of John Donne’s Holy Sonnets.)
Marvelously staged by director Bethany Johnson, "WIT" is by Margaret Edson, and is recipient of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Playwright Edson drew upon her experience working in a hospital in the development of "WIT."
Some City on a Hill Arts audience members might also come away with unexpected new knowledge of poet John Donne (also learning the fascinating literary choice of placement intent when using a comma or semicolon) than they probably anticipated (or cared about) when going in.
(Photo: Anthony Kirouac as “Dr. Kelekian,” Noah Jung as “Jason,” Debbie Moylan as “Vivian Bearing,” and Liz Ruark as “Susie” in a scene from Margaret Edson's "WIT" from City on a Hill Arts in Leominster, MA. through February 8, 2025. Photo Credit: Bethany Johnson)
"WIT" debuted in 1995 and would receive its first Off-Broadway production in 1998, closing in 2000 after 545 performances.
In 1999, the play received the "Best New Play" award from the New York Drama Critics' Circle.
The play then had a limited run as a revival on Broadway in 2012.
Because the play did not receive a production at a Broadway theatre, "WIT" was not eligible for the Tony Awards at that time.
However, the 2012 Broadway revival was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, and actress Cynthia Nixon was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play.
In 2001, "WIT" was adapted into an Emmy Award-winning movie directed by Mike Nichols and starring Emma Thompson as Dr. Bearing.
Now, City on a Hill Arts brings the play to local audiences and does so successfully in a finely tuned staging that fluctuates between the intense, intellectual and introspective.
(Photo: Liz Ruark as “Susie” with Noah Jung as “Jason,” in a scene from Margaret Edson's "WIT" from City on a Hill Arts in Leominster, MA. through February 8, 2025. Photo Credit: Bethany Johnson)
The action of the play takes place at the University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center where we meet professor of English Vivian Bearing, PhD (Debbie Moylan), a patient facing the final stages of her ovarian cancer.
The impeccably detailed single set is remarkably representational of an actual hospital room, complete with an examination table, gurney, wheelchair, partitions, curtains, IV drip and an array of medical instruments.
A versatile Ensemble (Traci Bartlett, Avery Columbus, Corine Farnsworth, Lillian Maxwell, Catrina Vear) takes on various roles of medical professionals during the 90-minute play, doubling as some of Bearing’s former students.
Moylan is utterly compelling throughout the production as Bearing who takes us along on this, the heartbreaking last leg of her journey.
For any actor, Vivian Bearing would be a difficult character to play since she is both cerebral and complex - and makes no apologies for being either.
Vivian is also scared - quite terrified, in fact.
Bearing spends much of the time relaying to us of her scholarly journey while simultaneously trying to come to terms with her declining health and ultimately…feeling perplexed and unresolved…must face her own mortality.
The above provides many aspects for an actor to try and play in a balanced manner, but Moylan effortlessly rises to the occasion, supported by the fine City on a Hill Arts cast.
The play begins in a well staged but bleak, almost balletic sequence that shows us a fully attired Bearing slowly having her articles of clothing stripped away, almost symbolizing how her dignity and ultimately her humanity also slowly gets stripped away as the play progresses.
(Photo: Lorien Corbelletti as “E.M. Ashford” with Debbie Moylan as “Vivian Bearing” in a scene from Margaret Edson's "WIT" from City on a Hill Arts in Leominster, MA. through February 8, 2025. Photo Credit: Jen Knight)
From the outset of "WIT," Bearing recounts her journey suffering Stage IV metastatic ovarian cancer – set in motion from the moment she receives the initial diagnosis from her oncologist, Dr. Kelekian (Anthony Kirouac).
Kirouac presents us with a kind, sympathetic and caring Dr. Kelekian who proposes an experimental chemotherapy treatment regimen to Bearing, who only accepts as she has very few options at this juncture.
Bearing is unmarried, has no children, with both parents deceased and with no known relatives.
She is, in fact, completely alone.
Feeling herself a cross between a lab rat and prisoner at the hospital, Bearing senses a coldness among most of the staff.
She sees them treating her less as a patient and more like a guinea pig, thus discounting a patient’s sense of self worth and instead placing a premium on the accumulation of medical knowledge.
The one exception to the above is Susie (Liz Ruark) a kindly nurse.
Ruark gives a fine interpretation of Susie, serving possibly as an amalgam of those nurses who tend to extend more empathy, concern and benevolence than their counterparts do toward patients.
In a flashback, Bearing remembers where her love of the English language began, reading books with her father (also portrayed by Kirouac).
Professor Bearing also recounts her days as a college level English instructor and, as fate would have it, one of her former students - Jason (Noah Jung) - is now a colleague of Dr. Kelekian.
Jung impresses greatly as Jason, presenting the character as medically competent but also as more self-absorbed, focused on his career rather than being focused on his patient’s care.
(Photo: Debbie Moylan as “Vivian Bearing,” in a teaching moment from Margaret Edson's "WIT" from City on a Hill Arts in Leominster, MA. through February 8, 2025. Photo Credit: Bethany Johnson)
Bearing also lectures us, the audience, on the English language, especially the use of wit as used in the metaphysical poetry by John Donne.
The above reflections also link to the ongoing theme in the play of how one faces death.
Bearing remembers her experience as a student of E. M. Ashford (Lorien Corbelletti), an expert on John Donne.
In an insightful portrayal, Corbelletti presents Ashford (reportedly based on actual English literary critic Helen Gardner) as having both a stern, unflinching cerebral side - then counters later with a softer, more compassionate side.
As "WIT" continues, Bearing must ultimately decide on the option, presented to her by Susie, of exercising her right to not have drastic measures taken in effort to resuscitate her in case of an end stage scenario – in other words, a “DNR” or “Do Not Resuscitate” order.
There will be some who watch "WIT" not knowing most, if any, of the medical jargon that is being used, similar to those who may find the words (and punctuational choices) of Donne most confounding.
However, there will be those who will watch recognizing far too well the medical terminology used, having watched a friend or loved one go through a similar experience.
To those in the latter, the words of Donne may take on a new meaning.
Either way, the words (and punctuational choices) of Bearing as conveyed via Edson's exquisitely worded text will have an emotional impact.
(Photo: Debbie Moylan as “Vivian Bearing,” in a scene from Margaret Edson's "WIT" from City on a Hill Arts in Leominster, MA. through February 8, 2025. Photo Credit: Bethany Johnson)
In a delicately told story presented to us on a most difficult subject, "WIT" continues in Leominster until February 8th and is highly recommended.
As City on a Hill Arts Tenth Anniversary season continues, next up will be “GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE” by Moises Kaufman, followed by “END OF DAYS” by Deborah Zoe Laufer (with whom METRMag spoke with back in 2023).
Tickets for "WIT" are free admission with donations welcome.
OBTAIN TICKETS
Approximately 100 minutes with no intermission
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
Dr. Vivian Bearing is a brilliant professor of literature who discovers that she has ovarian cancer.
When she is studying the Holy Sonnets of John Donne, she is intensely rational.
But during the course of her illness and chemotherapy, she comes to see her life and work in a new light with insight and humor that is transformative to everyone around her.
This Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Margaret Edson asks big questions about faith, science, language, memory, and death.
ABOUT CITY ON A HILL ARTS
CITY ON A HILL (COH) produces works of art that explore the intersection of faith, spirituality, and culture, fostering in each of us a more just and loving response.
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