March 8, 2010 issue
Bethel prof performs for Pulitzer-winning writer
By Bethel College staffNORTH NEWTON, Kan. — It’s not often an actor is offered a role in a Pulitzer Prize-winning play — even more rare to have the author sitting in the audience.
From left, Joy Goldsmith, John McCabe-Juhnke, Margaret Edson and Annette Thornton. — Photo provided by Bethel College
John McCabe-Juhnke, Bethel College professor of communication arts, had just such an opportunity in early February when a former student, Joy Goldsmith, invited him to play a doctor in a staged reading of Margaret Edson’s play Wit.
Goldsmith, chair of the department of communication at Young Harris (Ga.) College, organized a symposium on palliative care, the topic of her book Communication as Comfort: Multiple Voices in Palliative Care.
Edson took part in the symposium along with performers, scholars, health professionals and cancer survivors to explore issues surrounding doctor-patient relationships in treating advanced-stage cancers, a central theme of Wit. The performance took place Feb. 2.
Annette Thornton, former Bethel choreographer and theater professor, who is now director of musical theater at Central Michigan University, played the leading role of Vivian Bearing, a professor of English dying of ovarian cancer. McCabe-Juhnke played her primary physician.
“Joy wanted professionals to read the adult roles,” McCabe-Juhnke said. “I think the idea was for Joy to gather people from her past who meant something to her.
“It was great to have Maggie Edson there, to reflect on the play and our performance. She was very enthusiastic about this reading.”
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