Pulitzer Prize-winning 'Wit' opens at Wells-Metz

The Department of Theatre and Drama has tackled everything from murder to gay parenthood this fall, and now it will close the semester with the intimate play "Wit," a Pulitzer Prize-winner by Margaret Edson opening at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Wells-Metz Theatre.\n"Wit" follows the story of Vivian, a successful English scholar who learns she is in the advanced stages of ovarian cancer and is forced to re-evaluate her life in the face of her own mortality. \n"Vivian discovers that as a patient she really has to fight for herself as a person to keep from being looked at as an object in a specimen jar. She has to fight for her humanity," said director Danielle Howard. "She uses her intellect and her wit as tools in this battle."\nThe production marks Howard's first main stage direction as an Master's of Fine Arts student at IU, and she said the opportunity to direct such a sought-after piece has been an amazing privilege. \n"'Wit' was pretty much on everyone's list as a choice piece for this season," Howard said. "There was talk all last year that this was a play the department definitely wanted to do."\nTaking on the role of such a complex, headstrong character has been a new experience for junior Casey Searles, whose past performances at IU have been much smaller than the lead role of Vivian.\n"I was initially worried about being so young and playing this older character that so many people have had an investment in. I didn't want to botch that," Searles said.\nHoward said she doesn't think Searles' age has limited her ability to take on the role of Vivian.\n"She's been fearless in her commitment to the character. She leapt right in from the beginning, just believing in the experience ahead of her," Howard said.\nThe cast met with different people in the medical field to discuss real-life experiences with ovarian cancer patients -- preparation in which both Searles and Howard discovered interesting parallels to the situations and themes proposed in "Wit."\n"They all had something very unique to offer, and yet their thoughts about death were very universal," Searles said.\nHoward said she believes this universality connects audiences with the play and its characters. \n"It is appealing because while everyone might not come in contact with cancer specifically, all will experience death or will be affected by the death of someone else. A lot of people can identify with Vivian; identify with re-examining one's life."\n"Wit" is comprised of nine cast members, a small number compared to the 34 in the department's last production, "Macbeth." Alongside Searles will be Josh Hambrock as Harvey Kelekian, Gargi Shinde as E.M. Ashford, Brian Stoller as Jason Posner, Claire Tuft as Susie Monahan and Rachel Crouch, Justine Salata, David Sheehan and Rachel Sickmeier in various roles.\nShinde pointed out the struggle in "Wit" to apply intellect to illness and the realization that mortality cannot be defeated by intelligence.\n"It's interesting that we cannot use intellectual knowledge to fight the most basic things," Shinde said. "For Vivian, that means coming to terms with her own death."\nHoward said she believes the evocative language of "Wit," which is often directly addressed to the audience, will resonate with the audience long after it leaves the theater.\n"The play puts you right there inside. You are never just a bystander, and yet you have to accept that you cannot do anything about the situation. It really pulls you in and makes you part of the experience," Howard said. "Ideally, it's something that stays with you and works on you"