The Garfield Center for the Arts begins the 2026 season with an edge-of-your-seat thriller by master storyteller Stephen King. Adapted for the stage by playwright William Goldman, King’s “Misery” opens February 20 and runs weekends through March 8. The production is sponsored by Peoples Bank powered by Hanscom Federal Credit Union.
“Misery” is one of King’s more famous novels, partly due to the accessibility and quality of its film version and greatly due the Oscar-winning performance by Kathy Bates as mentally unbalanced ex-nurse Annie Wilkes. To date, the Oscar for Bates holds the distinction of being the only Stephen King story-turned-film to earn an Academy Award, despite other great film adaptations like “Stand By Me”, “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile”.
“Misery” introduces us to Paul Sheldon, a celebrated writer who has become disenchanted with his famous literary creation: Misery Chastain, the lead character in a series of romance novels. Wanting to break his reputation free from the Misery series, he decides to kill off the character and move on to greener pastures. After completing the final Misery novel at his cabin in Colorado, he gets caught in a blizzard which results in a terrible car accident. His badly injured body and manuscript are discovered by ex-nurse Annie Wilkes, who brings him to her secluded home to nurse him back to health. Self-described as Paul’s “number one fan”, things begin to take a dark turn when Annie, who is already displaying odd and worrisome behavior, reads the new Misery manuscript. Annie’s fury over Misery’s death erupts, resulting in a psychological and physical battle between the cunning, brutal and devious ex-nurse and her incapacitated victim.
Playing the role of Annie Wilkes is Brianna Johnson. Brianna is a very familiar face at the GCA. Credits include Poppy in “Noises Off”, Susan in “Prescription Murder”, various roles in “The Elephant Man” and “A Rock Sails By”, and Berdine in “Psycho Beach Party”. She has also directed for and performed in Short Attention Span Theatre. At CHT, she played Johnna in “August: Osage County:, and Eli in “Charley’s Aunt”.
Portraying Paul Sheldon is Matt Folker. Matt has performed in many productions across the Eastern Shore. At the GCA, he is known for playing Lloyd in “Noises Off”, Carr-Gomm in “The Elephant Man”, and Judge Turpin in “Sweeney Todd”. At CHT, he has been seen in “Footloose” as Reverend Shaw and “The Rocky Horror Show” as Frank-n-Furter, among others.
Performing as Sheriff Buster is John Mann. John has been on the GCA stage many times over the years, including roles in “Beauty and the Beast”, “The Addams Family”, “Short Attention Span Theatre”, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, and “Shrek”. He has also directed for Short Attention Span Theatre.
Directing “Misery” is JW Ruth, who is also the production’s Sound Designer. Over the past four years, JW has taken up a variety of roles at the GCA, including the title role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family Musical, Lumiere (Beauty and the Beast), among others. More recently, JW has begun to take a seat in the directors chair, as music director for GCA’s Lucky Stiff, and then as a GCA director with Happy Birthday Wanda June. He was also the director and music director for Bridges of Madison County at CHT.
Assisting with the production is Stage Manager Jordan Dixon, Assistant Stage Manager Dominic Delcoco, Costumer Connie Fallon, Makeup Artist Adrienne Wrona, who also contributed to the production’s Special Effects, Lighting Designer Nic Carter, and Macy Morris helping with the backstage crew. The set design is from JW Ruth and Butch Clark, who is also the GCA’s Technical Director, and Clark had assistance from Jim Landskroener in the construction of the set.
“Misery” opens February 20th and runs weekends through March 8th. Performances start at 8:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:00 PM on Sundays. For tickets, the Box Office is open for phone or lobby purchases on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10 AM to 3 PM, or tickets can be purchased anytime online at Eventbrite at www.eventbrite.com/e/1980572724334. There is also a link to Eventbrite purchasing on the GCA website at www.garfieldcenter.org.
