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— Photo by Damon Calderwood. Pictured L-R: Ron Reed, Baraka Rahmani, Jess Amy Shead, Katharine Venour, Brandon Bate, Dan Amos, Julia Siedlanowska. WIT A dazzling and humane play. Pacific Theatre is proud to announce its final show of the 2015-2016 season: Margaret Edson’s exquisite end-of-life drama, Wit. Brilliant and exacting, renowned professor Vivian Bearing has devoted her life to the study of John Donne’s poetry. While her work may have made her a literary expert in death, her diagnosis of advanced metastatic ovarian cancer makes her studies personal. As her treatments progress, her intellectual armour gives way to her need for human kindness. “I actually think the play is very funny,” says director Angela Konrad on the levity in this play about otherwise dark subject matter. “Like all my favourite art, it walks the razor-thin line between the beauty and horror of life, that exquisite balance of humour and pathos at the core of the most human stories.” A professor at Trinity Western University (TWU) herself, Konrad identifies with Vivian Bearing’s world, in fact, she knew her own Vivian Bearing when she started teaching at TWU. “Barbara Pell, a longtime English prof at TWU, took me under her wing and was my mentor when I first came to TWU. She was proudly known as ‘Pell from Hell’. She had more compassion on her students than Vivian, but was just as rigorous. She was an avid theatregoer, and I remember discussing this play with her.“ Making her professional debut is Julie Casselman, in the role of Susie, Vivian's nurse. Casselman also has a strong connection to her character: “My mom was a nurse and definitely wanted me to grow up to be a nurse,” she says. “Being a person who passed out regularly in biology class ruined that dream, but it’s pretty funny that I’ll be making my actual professional debut as a nurse.” RAVE REVIEWS “A dazzling and humane new play that you will remember ‘till your dying day.” – NY Magazine ARTISTIC TEAM Directed by Angela Konrad. Featuring Katharine Venour, Erla Faye Forsyth, Julie Casselman, Dan Amos, Ron Reed, Julia Siedlanowska, Jess Amy Shead, and Brandon Bate. Set Design by John Webber. Lighting Design by Lauchlin Johnston. Sound Design by Corina Akeson. Associate Sound Designer Jeff Tymoschuk. Costume Design by Christopher David Gauthier. Stage Management by Tiffany Kanda.
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