STCC Performance to Benefit Cancer-survivor Support Group

SPRINGFIELD — The Saturday, May 6 performance of the play Wit at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) will be staged as a benefit for Longmeadow-based Survivor Journeys, which provides social and emotional support services to cancer survivors, their families, and caregivers.

The STCC College Theater Workshop will present Margaret Edson’s acclaimed play at the Scibelli Hall Theater at STCC on Thursday, May 4, 11 a.m.; Friday, May 5, 7 p.m.; Saturday, May 6, 7 p.m.; and Sunday, May 7, 2 p.m. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors.

Wit focuses on the final hours of English professor Vivian Bearing, who is dying from ovarian cancer. She agrees to undergo an experimental treatment that might not save her but will provide research data for the future of oncology. The character reflects on her life over the course of the play, using the intricacies of the English language. The play chronicles the professor’s journey while touching on the moral and ethical dilemmas of medical research. The professor also, not surprisingly, uses wit to help her to the end.

In addition to winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for Best Drama, the play was made into an HBO movie starring Emma Thompson and was recently revised on Broadway with Cynthia Nixon in the lead role.

“Everyone associated with Survivor Journeys is honored and thrilled that the Springfield Technical Community College Theater Workshop will be donating the May 6 Wit performance proceeds to our organization,” said Dr. Jay Burton, founder of Survivor Journeys and a cancer survivor himself. “We are grateful to all of the actors, stage crew, and supervisory staff, including Professor Phil O’Donoghue, for their recognition of Survivor Journeys and its mission to help provide emotional and social support to cancer survivors, their families, and caregivers.”

Burton will speak at the theater after the Saturday performance.