Review: ‘Wit’ at Actor’s Express shows the meaning of time while standing the test of time 

Atlanta’s Margaret Edson has written just one play — well over a quarter of a century ago — but it has definitely stood the test of time. Her Wit is still a gripping and smart theatrical experience.

Actor’s Express is staging its own version of the drama headlined by the reliably excellent Carolyn Cook, running through June 28. It’s a top-notch production.

Wit charts the final hours of Dr. Vivian Bearing (Cook), a 50-year-old English professor of 17th-century poetry who has been diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic ovarian cancer and is dying. Her oncologist, Dr. Kelekian (Rob Cleveland), has suggested eight rounds of experimental chemotherapy, and Vivian agrees to move forward with it, even though she understands that the side effects will be harsh. 

In flashbacks, we see some of Bearing’s early life, including a scene with her father (Rob Cleveland again) honing her vocabulary, a moment with her mentor/professor Dr. E.M. Ashford (Kim Ostrenko) and interactions with former students, where she is seen as demanding and inflexible.   

Among the staff taking care of her in the hospital are Dr. Jason Posner (Dane Troy), a research fellow who took Bearing’s class on John Donne (one referred to as boot camp) and Susie Monahan (Sarah Elizabeth Wallis), who is Vivian’s primary nurse. 

Wit begins with Vivian breaking the fourth wall and telling the audience what they are about to see. For a play that has its share of grueling moments, however, it also has some dark humor. Vivian frequently marvels how everyone asks if she is OK, even after she has just thrown up in a bucket or is feeling the painful effects of the chemotherapy.

During her time in the hospital, she receives no visitors until almost the end. Vivian has no romantic partner or any family or close friends. Pouring everything into work and knowing the ins and outs of Donne’s Holy Sonnets (specifically “Death Be Not Proud”) has kept her from establishing relationships. And all of her knowledge and insight doesn’t make her hospital stay any easier.

Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Wit has been performed around the world and multiple times across the Atlanta area. The two most recent takes on the classic I’ve seen were the 2016 Aurora Theatre version starring Mary Lynn Owen as Vivian and a 2012 Broadway production with a magnificent Cynthia Nixon, which was the Broadway debut. Wit made its off-Broadway bow at the MCC Theater in the fall of 1998, winning high marks for its leading lady Kathleen Chalfant. And a 2001 HBO film starring Emma Thompson as Bearing also won acclaim, as well as an Emmy. 

As directed by Artistic Director Freddie Ashley, this version of  the play is hard-hitting and moves extremely well — 90 minutes with no intermission. It’s a no-frills production, too. The set is bare, save for a bed, desk and chair onstage. It’s a play about the main character and her late-in-life revelations, presented in a straightforward, non-sentimental, not-too-busy manner.  

The supporting cast does convincing work, especially Wallis, who treats Vivian like a human and is much better at bedside manner than her colleagues. Vivian finds compassion from Susie at a time in her life when she needs just that. It’s the kind of interaction she has never had in her life — and it’s Susie who really listens to Vivian as they share popsicles (in a beautifully staged moment) and later stands up for Vivian’s wishes as she nears death. 

Yet this is really Cook’s production. Dr. Vivian Bearing is not an easy role. Cook spends the entirety of the play onstage, barefoot, clad in a hospital gown and a cap to cover her bald head, and it’s an emotionally challenging task. I’ve seen some versions of the play where Vivian could come across as altogether remote and lacking in kindness, yet Cook’s version is more nuanced. Wit takes advantage of Cook’s many gifts as a performer — the easy empathy she creates with audiences; her rich sense of humor; and a raw physicality. She’s really exceptional here. In a long and heralded Atlanta career, this could become one of her signature performances.

Edson — who will give a talk back after the performance on June 11 — used her time working as a unit clerk in a cancer and AIDS ward to inspire her to write Wit. Ironically, the playwright used her Pulitzer money to establish a foundation dealing with bedside manner. Now teaching in the area, she has sadly not written another play, but this one will forever hold up, especially when featured in productions as strong as this one.  

Where & When 

Wit is at Actor’s Express through June 28. Tickets start around $36.
887 W. Marietta Street SW.

Tune In

Catch former WABE host Lois Reitzes interviewing Wit director Freddie Ashley on The ATL Arts Collective show for June 17, 2026.

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Jim Farmer is the recipient of the 2022 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Award for Best Theatre Feature and a nominee for Online Journalist of the Year. A member of five national critics’ organizations, he covers theater and film for ArtsATL. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he has written about the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the festival director of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival, and lives in Avondale Estates with his husband Craig.