"Wit," an award-winning play about a poetry professor's battle with terminal ovarian cancer, opens tonight at 7:30 at Lake City Playhouse in Coeur d'Alene. It will run through March 9 with performances on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and a 2 p.m. curtain on Sundays.

During the course of her illness, the central character, Vivian, comes to reassess her life and her work with a profundity and humor that are transformative for her and the audience.

"...Margaret Edson's 'Wit' is a work of delicately calibrated opposites. It pits detached clinical observation on one side against raw human emotion on the other, while somehow making dry humor and wrenching pathos travel hand in hand," wrote Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney in 2012, when "Wit" opened on Broadway.

The play debuted off-Broadway in 1998, and it received critical acclaim. It won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Cynthia Nixon, who portrayed Miranda in the HBO hit series "Sex and the City," brought "Wit" to Broadway in 2012.

The play, and Nixon's performance, received high marks from reviewers.

With simple sets and costumes, "Wit" relies heavily on the strength of the story and characters and the actors who portray them.

Costuming for Lake City Playhouse actor Diana Trotter, who plays Vivian Bearing, the same role Nixon received a Tony nomination for, is primarily a hospital gown and baseball hat.

And like Nixon, Trotter's dedication to her character portayal includes baring her scalp. Trotter shaved her head for the role.

The Lake City Playhouse production is directed by Troy Nickerson.

Tickets can be purchased by calling the box office at (208) 667-1323 or visiting lakecityplayhouse.org.