Wit
Wit
by Margaret Edson
Directed by Derek Bertelsen
May 8 – June 7, 2014
About the show: Wit revolves around the story of Vivian Bearing, Ph.D., a renowned professor of English, a specialist in the metaphysical, life and death themes of John Donne’s Holy Sonnets, who finds herself the subject of research designed to try to save her life as she is being treated for stage IV metastatic ovarian cancer. Vivian comes to reassess her life and her work with a profundity and humor that are transformative both for her and the audience.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Derek Bertelsen* - Director
Sara Pavlak* - Assistant Director
Dannie Moore* - Stage Manager
Jeremiah Barr* - Set Designer
Samantha Barr* - Lighting Designer
kClare McKellaston - Costume Designer
Ray Kasper* - Sound Designer
Amy Kasper* - Dramaturgy
Emily Schwartz - Production Photography
*denotes AstonRep company member
CAST
Alexandra Bennett* as Dr. Vivian Bearing
Krista Gustafson - Ensemble
Matthew Harris - Ensemble
Angela Horn - Ensemble
Lona Livingston - E.M. Ashford
Alison Plott - Susie Monahan, R.N.
Bob Skosky - Ensemble
Robert Tobin* - Dr. Harvey Kelekian
Drew Wieland - Dr. Jason Posner
Reviews
“A moving, sometimes harrowing evening of drama. Alexandra Bennett is particularly strong as the tough, demanding woman at the center of it all. Watching Bennett portray this tough-as-nails professor as she's slowly destroyed by her disease is an education in humility, compassion, and the limits of our all-too-human pride.”
— Chicago Reader
“In just 90 minutes, Edson presents a fully realized character who doesn’t just ask questions about life and death—she answers them. And those answers comes in the form of a beautifully wrought, simply rendered play that is as thought-provoking as it is haunting.”
— Chicagoist
“The key to the evening’s success is in the work of Alison Plott as Vivian’s nurse, Susie. Plott is the audience’s way into the story. She holds out her hand to us, and doesn’t let go.