The Baynet, May 16, 2010: W;t - A Compelling Drama that Rivets the Audience

LEXINGTON PARK
- 5/16/2010
By Andrea Hein

Colored lights flash.
A woman in a hospital gown walks forward, pulling an IV drip on a pole with
her. The woman wears a ball cap to cover her bald head, and informs the
audience that she has stage IV metastatic ovarian cancer—and that there is no
stage five.

This is the beginning of Margaret Edson’s W;t, a powerful
play about life, death and the human condition. The main character, Vivian
Bearing, PhD, is a teacher and scholar of seventeenth century poetry,
particularly the metaphysical works of John Donne. Vivian possesses an
incomparable knowledge of her subject matter, and has little patience for those
who don’t fully devote their intellectual ability to the teachings at hand.

Ever the professor, Bearing introduces the audience to the
works of Donne, transforming the audience into both students and witnesses to
her career and life. Vivian shares her past experiences through a series of
flashbacks, while intermittently returning to the present to chronicle her
increasingly difficult struggle with cancer. The audience witnesses her
transition from an authoritative professor full of life to a helpless patient
as Vivian learns to suffer with dignity. She uses her gift of wit to attempt to
deal with the paradox of time, the loneliness of cancer and the isolation
chemotherapy brings. The once unshakably independent women is reduced to
complete dependence on her nurse to care for her basic physical and emotional
needs as she undergoes eight months of harsh chemotherapy.

The character of Vivian Bearing is powerfully portrayed by
Dawna Diaz, who completely devoted herself to the role and even shaved off her
hair to complete the transformation into her character. “It was emotionally
difficult and draining to prepare for the role,” Diaz says. “There was a little
fear and trepidation when it came time to shave my head, but it’s such a small
sacrifice compared to what people sacrifice when they go through cancer.”

W;t touches the audience in a way that only a piece about
universal humanity can. “Most people know someone who has been affected by
cancer,” says W;t director Missy Bell. “This play is an amazing piece of
literature, a masterpiece of writing. The audience is left with the message
that all the things in life that we think are important really aren’t. It’s the
people in our lives that are important.”

At times funny, and at other times difficult and wrenching
to watch, W;t is ultimately a rewarding and introspective experience for
audience members. When asked what insight Diaz personally acquired from portraying
the role, she said: “It helped me reevaluate my life, to appreciate the moment
I am in now.”

W;t is being presented by The Newtowne Players at the Three
Notch Theater in Lexington Park from May 14 through 30. Tickets are available
for purchase at the door or online athttp://www.newtowneplayers.org/.