Misery loves theater

BY GINA GALLUCCI-WHITE Special to The News-Post

At the age of 12, Amy Hebb’s parents caught her reading Stephen King’s “Misery” and promptly took the horror story away from her forbidding her to read it.

“In order to finish the book, I had to go up to the library and read it because I couldn’t have it in the house,” she recalls. “[The protagonist] Annie has always been that boogeyman, and what is fascinating about her is she is human. Stephen King writes a lot about the supernatural and aliens and all that kind of stuff, but his best monsters are human.”

“Misery” explores the terrifying relationship between successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon and Annie Wilkes, who is his obsessive No. 1 fan. She rescues and tends to him after an accident but becomes enraged when she discovers his next book kills off her favorite character, Misery Chastain, and demands a rewrite.

Hebb has always wanted to play Wilkes because of the up-and-down character arc, as well as the role’s intensity.

“For an actor, it is a smorgasbord,” as she put it.

She will get her chance when Other Voices Theatre hosts the regional premier of “Misery” Feb. 10 at its 244 B S. Jefferson St., Frederick, location. The show runs through Feb. 19.

The horror show is a big departure for OVT, which traditionally focuses on musicals, family shows and comedy. Director Steve Cairns notes the theater group has wanted to do the show for a long time.

“It is one of those shows that is unique in the fact that it is a small cast,” he said. “Three people total. Most of the show, two people.”

While there is bone-chilling action in certain scenes, a majority of the roughly 90-minute show is conversations between Wilkes and Sheldon.

“The goal is to find the little things inside those conversations that can give you hints to the character,” Cairns said. “They can give you hints to what may come next. They can give you little subtext to some of the thought process that goes into those conversations.”

Jeff Wine describes his part as writer Paul Sheldon as a role that comes along infrequently for an actor in this area.

“There is so much range,” he said. “It is the perfect balance of intensity and drama and humor and physicality. It is exciting to be a part of the premier.”

Angels

(Continued from 17) capabilities.

“You have to invent ways to do things. This one has a lot of those problems you have to work around,” he said. “I think we’re on track to make a pretty impressive stab at it with our 9-foot-high ceilings.”

Myers and Janes hope the show will be well-received enough to justify bringing the play’s second part into production in the near future.

“I don’t know that this is reality, but we’re certainly looking at the possibility of being able to do both the pieces back-to-back [someday], giving people perhaps an opportunity to see Part One and Part Two in one day or one weekend,” Myers said. “I think that’s a unique experience that a lot of people will not have had before, that sort of marathonstyle theater where they are just devoting their minds to taking in one story for that long of a time.”

Janes emphasized, however, that Part One stands well on its own.

“There are plenty of plays out there that are kind of openended. Part One was out there in the ether for several years before Part Two came along,” he said. “People were seeing the play for the first time without really an inkling that there was going to be a second part.”

Erik Anderson is a freelance writer in Frederick who cares about few things more than the history of his community. Email him at erikanderson07@gmail. com.

OTHER VOICES THEATRE PRESENTS “MISERY”

When: Feb. 10 to 19

Where: Performing Arts Factory, 244 B S. Jefferson St., Frederick

Tickets: $18 to $22

Info: othervoicestheatre.org

Cairns is a big fan of his cast. “Amy has such a love for this show,” he said. “She is knows it inside and out. She has thought about it for awhile, so her passion for this show really drives a lot of what she does, and she is just a brilliant actor.”

Wine brings a calming presence, Cairns said, and tremendous range of emotions to the role. About 95% of his time onstage is spent not moving. “He is really doing a tremendous amount of work with his face and his emotions and the subtext.”

When the curtain in drawn on the psychological thriller, Cairns hopes the audience is, quite frankly, scared out of their wits.

“I hope we shock people and help them have a great night of thrill,” he said. “I hope they walk away saying that was a wonderfully told horror story. That is what this is. This is a wonderfully told horror story. Stephen King is a genius, and we get to play with his genius.”

“ANGELS IN AMERICA PART ONE: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES”

When: Feb. 10 to March 5

Where: Maryland Ensemble Theatre, 31 W. Patrick St., Frederick Tickets: $5+ Info: 301-694-4744, marylandensemble.org

Audio description services are available upon request. To request this service, email zcallis@marylandensemble.org. ASL interpreted performance at 7 p.m. Feb. 17. Please note this performance runs three hours with two intermissions. This performance contains mature themes, sexual situations, nudity, use of fog and mature language.

Filmmaker Ken Burns speaks at the gala ceremony for the inaugural Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, Oct. 17, 2019.

Shawn Miller/Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons

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