The Enterprise, May 28: With one weekend left, ‘W;t' abounds inside Three Notch Theater

Friday, May 28, 2010
By DICKSON MERCER
Staff writer

Margaret Edson's "W;t" shows us the last hours of Dr. Vivian Bearing,an enigmatic English professor who has lived through eight, month-long, high-dose cycles of radiation for metastatic ovarian cancer.

Within a black set, amidst hospital beds and examination tables, Vivian, the protagonist and narrator, guides us through the past and present and tells us what's to come. It is not her intention to give away the plot, Vivian says, though she's fairly sure she dies.

Last Friday, the cover of Southern Maryland Weekend described this play as "a heavy hitter, an unflinchingly austere, modern drama." On Sunday, I saw how I'd missed the mark.

Vivian, courageously inhabited by Dawna Diaz, can actually be quite funny. Early on, in fact, there are as many reasons to laugh as there are to shed tears later. My description was derived from NTP's press preview, held four days before opening night, and I suppose it now matters little whether it was a case of there being something missing or of me not getting it. What matters now is that the difference between the preview and Sunday's show was the difference between a good play and a great (nearly professional) one.

That transformation has a lot to do with Diaz, a 47-year-old mission controller for Patuxent River Naval Air Station, a mediator, a survivor of thyroid cancer and — as we now know — an actress made for this part. She shaved off her hair and eyebrows for this part; ultimately, though, her emotional transformation, and the depths she plundered, is what's so remarkable, perhaps even haunting.

Pronounced "wit," the semicolon placed in the title of this 1999 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama refers to an ongoing discussion regarding punctuation in one of John Donne's Holy Sonnets. In the world of Donne scholarship, Vivian is a "force," she tells us. In her rigorous course, she calls Donne "the greatest wit."

Vivian, though, is quite a wit herself. And Diaz, who seemed to pick up her character's physicality and emotional tailspin in a snap, has, with time, proven her ability to tease that dry wit out of Edson's demanding (and incredible) script. This is the first time that Diaz has acted on a stage without the benefit of the script in her hand. Her previous experience includes a former reader's theater group and Sotterley Ghost Walk, which is produced by her husband, Ming Diaz, who also handles this show's makeup.

In "W;t," we learn that Vivian chose a life devoid of human interaction (something most people consider as vital as oxygen). She has completed the treatment; it hasn't eradicated the cancer. Now she has hours left to live.

Although her life has been dedicated to Donne scholarship, we learn that her last contribution will be one to medicine, as no patient before her has handled such intense radiation therapy. For the doctors, then, she's an incredible data source, a pathway to more knowledge. Vivian, noticing the similarities between their study of her and her study of Donne, mostly accepts this: In her words, when the doctors arrive in the room and ask her, again and again, "How are you feeling?," she holds still and looks cancerous. "It takes less acting every time." Her threshold for radiation might be greater than anyone's previously, but we also see her spirit get broken — it breaks us, too. For 47 years her most authentic relationship has been with a very dead poet. Maybe she should have pursued human connections.

As much as this play engages the soul, NTP's spinning set and radiant, colorful lighting also make it engaging to the eye. The play — one, two-hour act — flies by in a flash. Director Missy Bell has assembled, and aptly guided, a great cast. While Diaz is the focal point (she never leaves the stage), the supporting characters (particularly Adam Hamilton, who plays Dr. Jason Posner, and Kayleigh Yancey, who plays a nurse) are terrific. Michael C. Bell, the director's husband, also deserves credit for his technical contributions (lights, officially).

On Sunday, however, Bell was called upon to sub as a hospital tech. As well, George Johnson, an ensemble character who also appears briefly as Vivian's father, covered for Joe Bowes as Harvey Kelekian, M.D., and the show didn't seem to suffer as a result. 

The Newtowne Players's production of Margaret Edson's "W;t" will conclude at 8 p.m. May 28 and 29 and 3:30 p.m. May 30. Tickets are $15, $12 for senior citizens, students and military. Directed by Missy Bell. The theater is at 21744 S. Coral Drive, Lexington Park. Call 301-737-5447. Go towww.newtowneplayers.org.