Woman treated for cancer in new play 'Wit'

Undergoing chemotherapy to treat cancer can be a harrowing experience.

That experience is the premise of "Wit," a new play that begins Friday at The Acting Company in Yuba City.

"Wit" was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Margaret Edson. At the center of the play is Vivian Bearing, a college professor who, as the story opens, is undergoing treatment for cancer. Vivian has advanced ovarian cancer, which is among the more aggressive forms of cancer.

Vivian addresses the audience, taking them back in time to tell her story: When she fell in love with words as a child; 20 years in the past, to when her graduate school professor encouraged her to pursue the poetry of John Dunne; and her diagnosis with the aggressive form of cancer.

"When encountering the disease, (she) finds out what life is really about," said the play's director, Chris Collier.

The cancer plot to "Wit" was one of the reasons Collier was interested in the play. "(It was) a play that fit my own personal experiences," he said. "My first wife died of breast cancer at 36. I knew what the issues were in this play, and this play touched on things I experienced."

With its plot being centered around cancer and treatment, "Wit" is, to say the least, not the happiest of plays. Collier said the subject matter is "intense. It talks about what it's like to go through cancer. (But) it could be any trauma in life we could go through: what we do and how we deal with it."

Despite this, however, "the ending is very uplifting," Collier said. "It's real life."

Pat Hill plays Vivian Bearing in "Wit." Since the character is undergoing chemotherapy, Hill shaved her head for the role. Also in the cast is John Trent, Anthony Dost, Bonnie Wiliams, Janice Hoberg, Heather Cowell, Tiffani Johnson, Elizabeth Duran, Jordan Wagner and Paul Ernstam.

"Wit" is "not just for people who experienced death or cancer," Collier said. "(It will make you) think about living your life and your own mortality. ('Wit') is basically about coming into grace and love and simplicity. It makes you think about what's really important in life."