Judy McLane and Daisy Eagan Will Lead WIT at North Carolina Theatre

North Carolina Theatre, the region's premier nonprofit professional regional theatre, just announced full casting for their eagerly anticipated production of Margaret Edson's Wit. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play will be led by Broadway's Judy McLane (Vivan Bearing, Ph.D) and feature Tony Award®-winner Daisy Eagan (Susie Monahan, R.N., B.S.N.). The thought-provoking story will run in the AJ Fletcher Opera Theater at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh, April 29-May 8, 2016.

Judy McLane performed over 4000 performances on Broadway in Mamma Mia!. She starred as "Donna Sheridan" for 3 1/2 years and as "Tanya" for 7 1/2 years, making her the longest running lead in Mamma Mia! history. She received critical acclaim for her performance as "Vienna" in Johnny Guitar Off-Broadway (Drama Desk Nomination and a Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance in the Theater). She has appeared on Broadway in Kiss of the Spider Woman, Aspects of Love, and Chess. Her national and international tours include the "Baker's Wife" in Into the Woods, the "Narrator" in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Donny Osmond, "Mrs. Baskin" in Big, and Side By Side By Sondheim.

At eleven years old, Daisy Eagan became (and remains today) the youngest actress ever to win the Tony Award® for the Best Performance by a Leading Actress when she dazzled New York audiences as "Mary Lennox" in The Secret Garden. Over twenty years later, her career has brought her back to Broadway again and again, and has also sent her across the country in a national tour, three self-penned one-woman shows, world premieres at South Coast Rep and La Jolla Playhouse, numerous television appearances, starring roles in film, leads on Los Angeles' most prestigious stages, and much, much more. Most recently, she was seen as "Martha" in the highly acclaimed 20th Anniversary concert performance of The Secret Garden at the David Geffen Hall.

Directed by Kate Galvin, NC Theatre's production of Wit will also star Jo Ann Cunningham (E.M. Ashford, D.Phil), who has performed on Broadway in The King and I (Anna) and Anna Karenina (Princess Betsey). Joining them is six-show Broadway veteran and a NC Theatre favorite, Dirk Lumbard, in the roles of "Harvey Kelekian, M.D." and "Mr. Bearing". Last seen at NC Theatre as the "Narrator" and "Mysterious Man" in Into the Woods, Wit will be his ninth production with North Carolina Theatre. Logan James Hall ("Sir Toby" in Twelfth Night at Alabama Shakespeare Festival, "Hoopoe" in Conference of the Birds with Adirondacks Lake Center for the Arts) will appear as "Jason Posner, M.D."

The talented cast also includes Jess Barbour, Matthew Hager, Christopher J. Helton and Maggie Lea. The creative team at North Carolina Theatre is led by Artistic Director Casey Hushion and Producer Carolee Baxter. Joining Kate Galvin (Director) for Wit are Chris Bernier (Scenic Design), Eric Collins (Sound Design), Kimberly Genna Bryant (Costume Design) and Charlie Morrison (Lighting Design). Aline Johnson will serve as Properties Mistress and Bill Yates, Jr. is the Technical Director.

"We are proud to be producing the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Wit, and proud to be doing it with this remarkable company of artists," said Casey Hushion, Artistic Director. "We look forward to sharing this brutally honest, funny and life-affirming play with our audiences and to taking them on this challenging and enlightening journey."

Wit is a one-act play written by American playwright Margaret Edson, which won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1999 New York Drama Critics' Circle award for "Best New Play." Edson used her work experience in a hospital as part of the inspiration for her play. Wit is the compelling story of a brilliant professor who becomes a student of life as she undergoes experimental treatment for cancer.

For tickets to NC Theatre's production of WIT visit NCTheatre.com or call Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000. For groups of 10 or more, call 919- 831-6941 x6949. Still to come in our 2015/2016 season: DISNEY'S & CAMERON MACKINTOSH'S MARY POPPINS, July 26- 31, 2016.