Why Our Company Loves Misery

Our October offering this year is William Goldman's play Misery, based on the story by Stephen King. Director Miguel Reyna and his cast and crew share their thoughts on how this play speaks to them, what they hope to create, and how horror as a genre, and this play in particular, can provide both an escape and catharsis for intrepid theatergoers.

The world is horrific enough right now as it is, why would I want to go see a horror piece?

Miguel Reyna (director): I've been hearing this a lot when people find out what show we're doing, and I disagree. It IS ugly out there. But I hope this production and the experience will help folks forget where they are and the troubles of the outside world for those 90 minutes. Horror helps release anxiety and fear that is held up inside of us. It provides a fun, novel experience, an extreme, surreal experience that doesn't necessarily happen in the real world. It's a safe way to satisfy a curiosity about the dark side of humanity through storylines and characters facing the darkest parts of the human condition. We as humans tend to feel the most positive emotions when something makes us feel the most negative ones. I've found that the universal antidote to horror is empathy, compassion, and love. The genre is a disruptive force that emphasizes the positive forces we value. Mostly though I want the audience to have fun.

Brad Roades (set designer, actor - Buster): Genre writing is a way to tell stories that challenge perceptions within a platform that allows the viewer or reader to jump in without being preached to. The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Gunsmoke all feature stories that explore an issue using a specific genre in a way that isn't preachy.  As for the horror genre, and Misery specifically, this is an opportunity to explore extreme fandom and its consequences against a compelling and thrilling background. 

Manirose Bobisuthi (actor - Annie Wilkes): Catharsis. Right now, we all need a place to vent. Where better than in a dark theater, curious as to how things end.

Buff McKinley (stage manager): My admiration for Miguel's directing style and process far exceeds my aversion to the genre. And, when the end product is this compelling, it's easy to set my surface fear aside and focus on the theater of it all. The cast is really responding to the rehearsal process. Whether horror is your jam (and October is your month!) or not, I expect audiences are in for a real treat.

What about this play speaks to you as a director, actor or designer? What do you like about it? What is challenging?

Miguel: It's about perseverance and the resolve of the human spirit. Survival is a key component of the human condition. It examines the risks you hypothetically take to get back to your loved ones and what matters most, what you can endure. 

Brad: Stephen King made me a reader. I first read Salem's Lot in seventh grade and have followed all of his books throughout.  But I really think Misery stands out as a singular study of the torture and pain a writer often has to go through in order to fulfill their creative process. From my perspective, the most challenging aspect of this piece is our work to make the characters and setting human. It would be easy to go campy with this story, but Miguel has correctly chosen to humanize the characters and the circumstances. 

Ian Dyer (actor - Paul Sheldon): I was drawn to this show because it’s a modern story, with characters that come from the world we know today. I love performing in the classics, but when there’s an opportunity to create theater that feels like something that could happen around the corner, that gets me going.

How is your team creating the atmosphere or mood for the play in terms of set, costumes, lighting, etc.?  

Miguel: The set, lights, costumes, and sound are an integral part of creating the atmosphere, which our designers are doing a fabulous job on. For me, what is most important, and most difficult, is for the actors to create the atmosphere by embodying and presenting the fear, desperation, and confusion as soon as those lights go up. It's essential that the audience glom onto the emotional entrapment of these characters, which only enhances the atmosphere the designers created. What matters most is the actors emanating their emotional consequences for the audience to see and taste. Manirose, Ian, and Brad are doing incredible work on this in rehearsals. 

Brad: As the set designer, I drew heavily on my own background growing up in Colorado and going to college in Alamosa, Colorado. I've been to many, many sites that would be a remote isolated cabin. I was very much interested in the feeling of claustrophobia and isolation. 

What are some things you have done to develop your character? Is this character similar to or very different from other roles you have done?

Brad: I'm playing the sheriff so I've drawn on conversations with family relatives in law enforcement as well as drilling into my own experiences growing up in Colorado. This character is not unlike some other roles I've played recently, but the work to make it more human and less "type" has really yielded an interesting take.

Ian: Stephen King is really his own genre, and the men he writes come from a very particular sense of self that he has. It’s been noted by many, but shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, that he’s written so many characters who are male authors. To try and come to an understanding of that, I’ve been watching as many of the older Stephen King movie adaptations as possible. These characters have a very traditional masculinity to them, and yet he clearly has his judgments and feelings about what makes them worthwhile.

This story is rather well known from the book and also the movie. How will this AT production be similar or different? How does being a live performance change how the story is received?  

Miguel: Live theater is a living, breathing organism that is tangible and real. Movies are a wonderful medium, of course, but theater is another level. Especially with horror, if done well, the theater audience will experience excitement, adrenaline, and the feeling of being trapped (hee-hee)--like a fun carnival ride. My advice for the audience is to forget about the movie. Come with an open mind and see for yourself. 

Brad: What's really interesting about this adaptation and the cast is the personal way we are taking every moment and how we are taking the time to make it come to life. The movie was great, but what our cast and design team have done is place the audience right there with us. Its a more personal take and the audience will feel very much like they are right in the cabin with us. 

Why is the story of Misery worth telling today?

Brad: Celebrity behavior and their relationships with their fan base is all over social media. The struggle to write or create is at the core of any artistic endeavor. Combined with the some of the incendiary rhetoric circulating in 2025, this piece will show just how a perception can grow into an obsession, and an obsession into horror. 

Ian: This is a story about the struggle for artistic creation, and that’s a story that will always be relevant. It’s a story that allows the audience to bring themselves and their own experiences into the play, and I truly hope everyone comes away feeling strongly about it.

Manirose: We all crave something. We all have our addictions, our fears, our loves, our unnamed thoughts. Misery allows us to see those obsessions played out to the end of the line. It allows us to go into the dark recesses and muck about. It's a horror piece but it is also a love story, a desperate tragedy, and perhaps a cautionary tale. In a time of unprecedented horrors, how lucky to explore fear in such safety.

Misery by William Goldman, based on the story by Stephen King, directed by Miguel Reyna, and featuring Manirose Bobisuthi, Ian Dyer and Brad Roades, opens on Friday, October 17 and plays Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm through November 1. Tickets are $35 general/ $32 senior/student, and Thursday shows are two for one. Get tickets HERE.