Audition Date: January 30, 6pm at AMP
Come audition for Misery, directed by Ann Walsh!
Misery follows successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon, who is rescued from a car crash by his “number one fan,” Annie Wilkes, and wakes up captive in her secluded home. While Paul is convalescing, Annie reads his latest book and becomes enraged when she discovers the author has killed off her favorite character, Misery Chastain. Annie forces Paul to write a new Misery novel, and he quickly realizes Annie has no intention of letting him go anywhere. The irate Annie has Paul writing as if his life depends on it, and it does. – Dramatists Play Service
Show Dates and Times:
May 25, 2023 at 7:30pm
May 26, 2023 at 7:30pm
May 27, 2023 at 7:30pm
May 28, 2023 at 5:00pm
Characters:
PAUL SHELDON
Paul Sheldon is an author of novels, “good ones and best-sellers” (7). He’s a “tall man, forty-two years old,” twice divorced, and an alcoholic. Paul has a “vivid imagination” (56), which he’s used to write a series of best-selling romance novels centered on Misery Chastain, “darling of the dump bins and sweetheart of the supermarkets” (62). When the novel begins, Paul has just finished writing Fast Cars, his first non-Misery novel, which he hopes will garner him the critical praise he desires. During his time as Annie’s prisoner, Paul swings between utter terror, hopelessness, and depression and inspiration, hope, and bravery. Paul also expresses himself as a writer, giving the reader an idea of what it’s like to write under extreme duress.
ANNIE WILKES
Annie Wilkes is a middle-aged woman, a former nurse, who lives by herself on a remote farm in Colorado. She is Paul Sheldon’s self-described “number-one fan” though her fandom crosses the line into dangerous obsession (6). Annie grew up in Bakersfield, California but has lived in many places across the nation. She considers herself a proper woman who dislikes cussing, so she uses words such as “fiddle-de-foof” (75) and “cockadoodie” (79) instead. Annie is a large woman who dresses conservatively in the same gray cardigan and “endless succession of wool skirts” each day.
SHERIFF
He is a calm and typical law man, any age.
