Wit

Some people leave this world with music. Others hum or retch or go quietly. For Vivian Bearing, an English professor in Margaret Edson’s “Wit,” her valedictory breath is spent reciting the lines of John Donne’s metaphysical poem “Death Be Not Proud.” Edson’s one-act, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1999, has been staged over the years with such stars as Cynthia Nixon and Kathleen Chalfant playing the 50-year-old professor who is fighting ovarian cancer. Now Twin Cities veteran Sally Wingert takes that journey in a production staged by Ben McGovern at Artistry in Bloomington. While the subject seems serious, Edson’s play backlights what it means to be alive. (7:30 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., 7:30 p.m. Wed.-next Fri. Ends May 28. Bloomington Center for the Arts, 1800 W. Old Shakopee Rd. $30. 952-563-8575 or artistrymn.org.)

Rohan Preston