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Wit

Call it Beginner's Luck if you wish, but Atlanta, Georgia, elementary  school teacher-turned-playwright Margaret Edson hit a homerun with Wit, which  opens tonight at Raleigh Little Theatre and runs Thursday-Sunday through Feb.  26th in RLT's Cantey V. Sutton Theatre. This powerful play for mature audiences  fearlessly chronicles the heroic struggle against terminal ovarian cancer of  English professor and world-famous John Donne expert Vivian Bearing, Ph.D.  (played at RLT by Mary K. Rowland). Wit won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as  well as the 1999 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Play.

Legendary stage and screen director Mike Nichols directed the 2001 TV  movie of Wit, which starred British actress Emma Thompson, who co-wrote the  teleplay with Margaret Edson. Wit won the 2001 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Made for  Television Movie; Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special  (Nichols); and Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries,  Movie or a Special (John Bloom).

"I first read this play shortly after it debuted in New York in 1998,"  remembers long-time RLT artistic director Haskell Fitz-Simons. "I later saw the  film directed by Mike Nichols and starring Emma Thompson."

Fitz-Simons says, "I don't know a soul on this Earth who has not been  touched is some way by cancer. Some day, the powers that be will find a cure for  this terrible disease. In the meantime, we are all vulnerable to the vagaries  of it's often seemingly random appearances and disappearances.

"This amazing play has something to teach us all about the process that  awaits us all: dealing with our own mortality," Fitz-Simons says. "Ms. Edson's  script takes on this formidable subject with sensitivity, compassion, and even  humor. In the telling of the story, we take a journey to a place that is  uncomfortable for most of us; and, on that journey, we learn a good deal about our  own doubts and fears. It is, I think, a very important script; and I have  wanted to be a part of it since I first read it."

Haskell Fitz-Simons adds, "This amazing play tells the story of one  woman's coming to grips with her own mortality after being diagnosed with Stage  Four ovarian cancer. That she happens to be a brilliant scholar, specializing in  the incredibly convoluted Holy Sonnets written by 16th Century English poet  John Donne, adds considerable interest to the central character, Vivian Bearing,  Ph.D. (Mary Rowland).

"The play starts with a very thorough diagnosis of Vivian's condition by  Dr. Harvey Kelekian (Fred Corlett), Head of Research in Medical Oncology. Dr.  Kelekian persuades Dr. Bearing (who is also a researcher, just in a different  field) to enroll in an experimental course of treatment which will provide  valuable information about future treatment for this condition. The course of  treatment, as it happens, is a tortuous course of chemotherapy at vastly stronger  dosage than has heretofore been used on patients.

"Over the eight-month course of her treatment," Fitz-Simons says, "Dr.  Bearing comes into contact with the young (and possibly gifted) research fellow,  Dr. Jason Posner (Kevin Ferguson). Young Dr. Posner has a lot to learn about  a lot of things, not the least human empathy. At the other end of the spectrum  is Vivian's nurse, Susie Monahan (Diane Monson), who provides Vivian's only  touch with humanity and kindness. We also meet along the way, Vivian's college  mentor, Dr. E.M. Ashford (Patsy Clarke). Completing the cast is a small  ensemble of young people (Kerry Sullivan, Mary Misertino, Cory Banks, and Shelly  Habetz), who play Vivian's students and various hospital technicians and doctors."

In addition to director Haskell Fitz-Simons, the show's creative team  includes technical director and set designer Roger Bridges, lighting designer Mike May, costume designer Vickie Olson, props mistress Robin Hughes, sound  designer Rebecca Eames, and stage manager Del Flack.

Haskell Fitz-Simons says, "The set is a sort of 'space of the mind' that  transforms easily into the various places in Vivian's memory and yet maintains  a level of surreality appropriate to the extreme condition of our  protagonist." He says the show's lighting is "dramatic [and] touches the unrealistic at  times" and the costumes in Wit are "contemporary fashions [and] hospital garb."

He adds, "This play treads paths that are hard for some of us to go down.  Most of us share a fear of our own deaths. This frank portrayal of a death by  metastatic Stage Four cancer is, as times, harrowing. It is also strangely  comforting and ultimately uplifting. The story is told almost entirely in  flashback. It has been something of a challenge to provide a set which will take us  forward and back with almost cinematic speed."

Raleigh Little Theatre presents Wit Friday-Saturday, Feb. 10-11, at 8  p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 12, at 3 p.m.; Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 16-18 and 23-25, at 8  p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 19 and 26, at 3 p.m. in RLT's Cantey V. Sutton Theatre,  301 Pogue St., Raleigh, North Carolina. $15 Thursdays and Sundays ($12  students and seniors), $18 Fridays, and $20 Saturdays, except $10 all tickets Feb.  12th and $10 Feb. 22nd for the Rex Healthcare Cancer Center Angel Fund Benefit.  919/821-3111 or  http://www.etix.com/ticket/servlet/onlineSearch;jsessionid=B492D8EAE24A579F815A98F4E5776F78?action=venueSearch&venue_id=279&cobrand=RLT.  NOTE: All performances are wheelchair accessible, and the Feb. 12th show will be  audio described and American sign language interpreted. RALEIGH LITTLE  THEATRE: http://www.raleighlittletheatre.org/wit.htm. INTERNET BROADWAY DATABASE: xx.  INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243664/.


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Wit

Call it Beginner's Luck if you wish, but Atlanta, Georgia, elementary  school teacher-turned-playwright Margaret Edson hit a homerun with Wit, which  opens tonight at Raleigh Little Theatre and runs Thursday-Sunday through Feb.  26th in RLT's Cantey V. Sutton Theatre. This powerful play for mature audiences  fearlessly chronicles the heroic struggle against terminal ovarian cancer of  English professor and world-famous John Donne expert Vivian Bearing, Ph.D.  (played at RLT by Mary K. Rowland). Wit won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as  well as the 1999 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Play.

Legendary stage and screen director Mike Nichols directed the 2001 TV  movie of Wit, which starred British actress Emma Thompson, who co-wrote the  teleplay with Margaret Edson. Wit won the 2001 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Made for  Television Movie; Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special  (Nichols); and Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries,  Movie or a Special (John Bloom).

"I first read this play shortly after it debuted in New York in 1998,"  remembers long-time RLT artistic director Haskell Fitz-Simons. "I later saw the  film directed by Mike Nichols and starring Emma Thompson."

Fitz-Simons says, "I don't know a soul on this Earth who has not been  touched is some way by cancer. Some day, the powers that be will find a cure for  this terrible disease. In the meantime, we are all vulnerable to the vagaries  of it's often seemingly random appearances and disappearances.

"This amazing play has something to teach us all about the process that  awaits us all: dealing with our own mortality," Fitz-Simons says. "Ms. Edson's  script takes on this formidable subject with sensitivity, compassion, and even  humor. In the telling of the story, we take a journey to a place that is  uncomfortable for most of us; and, on that journey, we learn a good deal about our  own doubts and fears. It is, I think, a very important script; and I have  wanted to be a part of it since I first read it."

Haskell Fitz-Simons adds, "This amazing play tells the story of one  woman's coming to grips with her own mortality after being diagnosed with Stage  Four ovarian cancer. That she happens to be a brilliant scholar, specializing in  the incredibly convoluted Holy Sonnets written by 16th Century English poet  John Donne, adds considerable interest to the central character, Vivian Bearing,  Ph.D. (Mary Rowland).

"The play starts with a very thorough diagnosis of Vivian's condition by  Dr. Harvey Kelekian (Fred Corlett), Head of Research in Medical Oncology. Dr.  Kelekian persuades Dr. Bearing (who is also a researcher, just in a different  field) to enroll in an experimental course of treatment which will provide  valuable information about future treatment for this condition. The course of  treatment, as it happens, is a tortuous course of chemotherapy at vastly stronger  dosage than has heretofore been used on patients.

"Over the eight-month course of her treatment," Fitz-Simons says, "Dr.  Bearing comes into contact with the young (and possibly gifted) research fellow,  Dr. Jason Posner (Kevin Ferguson). Young Dr. Posner has a lot to learn about  a lot of things, not the least human empathy. At the other end of the spectrum  is Vivian's nurse, Susie Monahan (Diane Monson), who provides Vivian's only  touch with humanity and kindness. We also meet along the way, Vivian's college  mentor, Dr. E.M. Ashford (Patsy Clarke). Completing the cast is a small  ensemble of young people (Kerry Sullivan, Mary Misertino, Cory Banks, and Shelly  Habetz), who play Vivian's students and various hospital technicians and doctors."

In addition to director Haskell Fitz-Simons, the show's creative team  includes technical director and set designer Roger Bridges, lighting designer Mike May, costume designer Vickie Olson, props mistress Robin Hughes, sound  designer Rebecca Eames, and stage manager Del Flack.

Haskell Fitz-Simons says, "The set is a sort of 'space of the mind' that  transforms easily into the various places in Vivian's memory and yet maintains  a level of surreality appropriate to the extreme condition of our  protagonist." He says the show's lighting is "dramatic [and] touches the unrealistic at  times" and the costumes in Wit are "contemporary fashions [and] hospital garb."

He adds, "This play treads paths that are hard for some of us to go down.  Most of us share a fear of our own deaths. This frank portrayal of a death by  metastatic Stage Four cancer is, as times, harrowing. It is also strangely  comforting and ultimately uplifting. The story is told almost entirely in  flashback. It has been something of a challenge to provide a set which will take us  forward and back with almost cinematic speed."

Raleigh Little Theatre presents Wit Friday-Saturday, Feb. 10-11, at 8  p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 12, at 3 p.m.; Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 16-18 and 23-25, at 8  p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 19 and 26, at 3 p.m. in RLT's Cantey V. Sutton Theatre,  301 Pogue St., Raleigh, North Carolina. $15 Thursdays and Sundays ($12  students and seniors), $18 Fridays, and $20 Saturdays, except $10 all tickets Feb.  12th and $10 Feb. 22nd for the Rex Healthcare Cancer Center Angel Fund Benefit.  919/821-3111 or  http://www.etix.com/ticket/servlet/onlineSearch;jsessionid=B492D8EAE24A579F815A98F4E5776F78?action=venueSearch&venue_id=279&cobrand=RLT.  NOTE: All performances are wheelchair accessible, and the Feb. 12th show will be  audio described and American sign language interpreted. RALEIGH LITTLE  THEATRE: http://www.raleighlittletheatre.org/wit.htm. INTERNET BROADWAY DATABASE: xx.  INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243664/.

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