When it was first performed in New York in 1998, Wit was a revelation to critics and audiences alike. In writing a play about terminal cancer and metaphysical poetry -- and exploring the mysteries of both through the central character of Vivian Bearing, a highly accomplished but emotionally remote scholar who is forced to reassess her life during her harrowing stint in a cancer ward -- Margaret Edson crafted a work that was as intellectually challenging as it was emotionally immediate. Called "an original and urgent work of art ... among the finest plays of the decade" by Donald Lyons in The Wall Street Journal it also deeply affected theatergoers, who found that the play's wit, passion, and unsentimental empathy combined to create a rare catharsis.

Wit is now the basis for a major new film for television, produced by Avenue Pictures for HBO Films and starring the Academy Award-winning actress Emma Thompson as well as three-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, Eileen Atkins, and Jonathan M. Woodward, along with Harold Pinter and Christopher Lloyd. Directed by Academy Award-winner Mike Nichols and set to air nationwide in March 2001, Wit is sure to move a new audience, as television viewers discover this extraordinary work brilliantly adapted to a new medium.