The Portsmouth Little Theatre (PLT) will open curtain this month on a season-opening show they guarantee will wow audiences, as they prepare for Stephen King’s Misery.

The show is a bucket list production for many involved, with the theatre board members spending years eyeing the rights and waiting for them to become available. It was the first production they locked into their season, with payments being made to secure the rights a year ago, and board members Kerri Davis and Jim Humphrey locked in for directing.

“A lot of people have wanted to see this show on our stage for some time. I think it appeals, because of the story and legacy of Stephen King. It is a good, creepy show and I think people will be in for a nice surprise,” Davis said. “We paid attention to a lot of the details with this one. For instance, some of the parts from the book and movie didn’t make it into this script, but we found ways to incorporate them in the set and design. I think fans of the story will be impressed.”

Davis also believes that the theme and mood will be a perfect way to welcome October.

“It has a lot of creepy elements and some mental health factors,” Davis said. “I think it will be a nice October show and people will leave very satisfied.”

Rehearsals for the production began two months ago and the small, but mighty, cast has been pulling together a well-tuned machine ever since.

“Rehearsals are going very well. This show is very tech heavy, so there are a lot of extra tech rehearsals we had to schedule and stretch things out a little bit to pull it off the way we want,” Davis said. “From the beginning, the actors already had a good hold of their character development, though, which, because of that, we’ve been able to focus on the details and make a longer tech week possible. This show is cleaning up and really turning into one of my favorites. I’m very excited to see what our cast and crew have managed to pull off.”

Assisting in directing, and managing the props and sets, is Davis’s partner Jim Humphrey. The two have worked together on many productions, from acting together to directing together. They last teamed up on the Ohio Arts Council funded production of Velveteen that hit the stage last Christmas. The two managed some amazing feats in the production, including a 14-foot ship that had to fit through an 8-foot door. They also created a 16-foot book that had turning pages to reveal different storybook sets. Humphrey promises big spectacle with this production as well.

“I’ve built some amazing things on this stage, from two-story houses to huge magical worlds, but this is the hardest set I’ve ever built,” Humphrey claimed. “It’s the most technical heavy show I’ve ever been involved in and the most prop reliant production I’ve done. I’ve become a self-proclaimed prop master.”

Humphrey has been put in a position to create some amazing props, from feet and ankles that break on stage using specialty casts and braces to a cordless electric-powered grill that took some serious ingenuity to spark on stage without a plug. He has also had to create several weapons that look realistic, while also being safe for actors. That’s not to mention the set itself.

“Kerri and I agreed to direct and produce this show before reading the script; we were that excited,” Humphrey explained. “While we were reading it, Kerri gave me a look and asked for me to not think she is crazy, but determined the set needed to rotate, which can be a little hard on our size stage. As we kept reading, the script eventually directed the set to rotate on stage and change scenes. We kind of figured that out before we were even told.”

Humphrey was up for the challenge, however, and built a turntable that filled the entire 16-foot gap, while also supporting the weight of two massive and heavy sets. All of this is made possible because of an obscene number of hours and talent Humphrey donates to nearly every production to make the magic happen.

“I have realized that I love praise. That’s one thing I love about the theatre, because of the amount of praise we get after a good production and great set. Bringing an idea to life and making it excellent makes people happy. Seeing what I’ve done and what I’ve built, and then sharing that with people, is always nice. This set, and heavy prop demands, however, has taken the binders off, the braces off, the chokers off; it has taken everything off,” Humphrey explained. “I don’t have a mentor to walk me through how this is done; I just have to use my existing knowledge and figure it out on my own. Being able to, now, sit back and look at something that I built, that came out of my mind; that’s a hell of a motivation for me. It has taken a lot, but we’ve made some special things happen and I’m excited to share that with people.”

Misery will take the Portsmouth Little Theatre stage, 1117 Lawson Street, on October 13, 14, 20, and 21 at 7:30 p.m. and October 22 at 2:00 p.m. Admission is $15 for students and seniors and $18 for adults. Tickets are available at the door, but the theatre expressed concerns for selling out and recommend visiting pltlive.com to buy ahead online.

Reach Joseph Pratt at (740) 353-3101, by email at [email protected], © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved.