Hershey Area Playhouse Presents WIT Talkbacks 4/24

Following the Saturday evening performances of "Wit" at the Hershey Area Playhouse, the audience and community are invited to a talk back with leading cancer experts and others knowledgeable about the disease. The launching point for the panel discussions is "Wit," Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play focusing on one woman's battle with ovarian cancer.

On Saturday, April 24, the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions and hear from Nan Resnick, women's health social worker; Ann Gelder, LPN, CCRP, director of research projects in gynecological oncology at Hershey Medical Center, Lisa Greene, ovarian cancer survivor; April Ennis Peirson of the American Cancer Society and Michael Green, MD.

Panelists on Saturday, May 1 will include Leah Cream, MD, of the Penn State Cancer Institute, Lisa Greene, Vicki Haacke of the American Cancer Society, Eric Martens, resident chaplain in the hematology/oncology service at Hershey Medical Center, and Michael Green, MD.

Both panel discussions will be moderated by John Messmer, MD. The talk backs will begin in the theater at approximately 9:15 pm, following brief receptions in The Playhouse lobby. Tickets to the talk backs are not required, and admission to the talk backs is free.

"Those who attend the talk backs will get expert, reliable advice, clarification, and commentary on all cancers and health care in general," said Skip Becker, director of "Wit."

"Wit" will be presented Thursday-Sunday, April 22-25 and April 29-May 2 at the Hershey Area Playhouse on the campus of Country Meadows, 830 Cherry Drive, Hershey. Performance times are 7:30 pm Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 pm on Sundays.

Tickets for "Wit" are $17 for teens and adults and $14 for children 12 and under, and service charges apply. Tickets and more information is available at HersheyAreaPlayhouse.com.

The play was first produced off-Broadway in 1999 and swept nearly every drama award given for an off-Broadway play, including the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, The Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play, two Drama League awards and the Outer Critics' Circle Award for Outstanding Play. In 1999 "Wit" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. "Wit" has also been produced at regional theaters nationwide.

"Wit" is sponsored by The Doctors Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine, Penn State Hershey College of Medicine, Humanities Department. The play continues the Hershey Area Playhouse's close relationship with the area's medical community and care providers that began with "Full Moon Over Montmarte," a January 2010 performance that focused on Alzheimer's Disease.

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