Stage Adaptation of Stephen King's MISERY to Premiere at Bucks County Playhouse, 11/24-12/8!

Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, Castle Rock Entertainment and Playhouse Productions announced today that they will present the world premiere of MISERY at Bucks County Playhouse (70 South Main Street, New Hope PA) this fall. Written by two-time Academy Award-winner William Goldman (who wrote the screenplay for Misery as well as The Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), based on the acclaimed novel by Stephen King and directed by Will Frears (Coach, Year Zero), MISERY will play a limited developmental engagement of 11 performances only, November 24th through December 8th.

Goldman’s adaptation of MISERY was released in 1990 and starred James Caan and Kathy Bates, who won an Academy Award for her performance as Annie Wilkes. The play is a fresh adaptation of King’s celebrated novel.

“It’s a thrill to be working on this world premiere with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures and Castle Rock Entertainment, said Jed Bernstein, Producing Director of Bucks County Playhouse. “MISERY will be yet another significant milestone in our efforts to re-establish The Playhouse as an integral and vital player in Broadway creative development.”

“It’s so important to have a venue like Bucks County Playhouse to develop new works,” Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures Executive Vice President Mark Kaufman said. “As a company with many projects in the pipeline, we’re very grateful to have The Playhouse as an ideal partner for the development of this unique piece of theatre.”

“Working with Castle Rock Entertainment, Bill Goldman and Will Frears to bring MISERY to the stage has been an incredible experience,” Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures Executive Vice President Raymond Wu said. “Having the opportunity to reinvigorate and re-imagine such an iconic title from the Warner Bros. catalog is really a gift.”

MISERY tells the story of novelist Paul Sheldon, as he has plans to make the difficult transition from writing historical romances featuring heroine Misery Chastain to publishing literary fiction. Annie Wilkes, Sheldon's number one fan, rescues the author from the scene of a car accident. The former nurse takes care of him in her remote house, but becomes irate when she discovers that the author has killed Misery off in his latest book. Annie keeps Sheldon prisoner while forcing him to write a book that brings Misery back to life.

Set design for MISERY is by David Korins (Motown, Annie), costume design is by Academy Award-winner Ann Roth (The English Patient, The Book of Mormon) lighting design is by David Weiner (Godspell, The Normal Heart) and sound design is by Tony Award-winner Darron West (Peter and the Starcatcher, Chinglish). MISERY will feature original music by Michael Freidman (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Saved), special effects by Gregory Meeh (Spamalot, Into the Woods) and fight direction by Rick Sordelet (A Streetcar Named Desire, Fences).

Tickets to MISERY are currently on sale to the general public. Ticket prices range from $39 – 54 and can be purchased by visiting www.BCPTheater.org or calling 215-862-2121. The performance schedule will be as follows: Saturday November 24th at 8pm, Sunday, November 25th at 3pm; Thursday, November 29th at 8pm; Friday, November 30th at 8pm; Saturday, December 1st at 2pm and 8pm; Sunday, December 2nd at 3pm; Thursday, December 6th at 8pm; Friday, December 7th at 8pm and Saturday, December 8th at 2pm and 8pm.

Complete casting for MISERY will be announced soon.