This month, 16 theater productions are scheduled to open across San Diego County. But only one of them is a horror-themed tale ideally timed to celebrate Halloween season.

Oceanside Theatre Company’s production of “Carrie: The Musical” opens Saturday and runs through Halloween night.

“Carrie” started out in 1974 as a horror novel by Stephen King. It’s about Carrie White, a shy teenage girl struggling to find friends while living under the severe control of her deeply religious mother. When Carrie becomes the subject of a cruel prank at the high school prom, she uses her previously unknown supernatural abilities to take revenge.

The book was made into a movie in 1976, and it became a musical in 1988. Written by Lawrence D. Cohen, Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford, the musical premiered in England before becoming an infamous Broadway flop. Decades later, the musical’s creators dusted it off, rewrote the score and transformed it from a campy spectacle into a stripped-down psychological thriller. The 2012 off Broadway revival was well received by critics.

OTC Producing Artistic Director Kevin “Blax” Burroughs is directing and choreographing an immersive production that will be designed to draw the audience into Carrie’s increasingly unsettling world.

“One of the first dreams I had when I became Artistic Director at OTC was to put on this show,” Burroughs said. “Carrie is a love letter to the horror genre and one of my favorite stage musicals. We want audiences to experience something here that they won’t forget.”

Sophia LaRosh will star as Carrie White and Sandy Campbell will play her mentally troubled mother Margaret White.

The large-scale production will be the first in the downtown Sunshine Brooks Theater since a recent renovation. And it almost didn’t happen.

Earlier this month, the theater’s board of directors considered canceling the production because it was $20,000 short of the funds needed to bring it to fruition. Canceled rehearsals, a proposal to reduce the number of performances and other issues led several cast and crew members to take their case to social media, citing the board’s silence and other complaints.

Ultimately, company officials were able to raise the needed funds, thanks to a matching funds campaign, and the show will go on as planned.

But the company’s future programming is being reassessed. The company’s current fundraising goal is $115,000, though OTC Board President Leann Garms said that amount could change.

“Grants and other traditional sources of arts funding have become less predictable, making community support more important than ever,”  Garms said, adding that moving forward OTC will need to produce shows that require less upfront investment. And large musicals have become simply too expensive to produce due to changes in state labor laws.

Christopher Williams, the founding artistic director of OTC and a continuing supporter, said OTC’s problems are not unique.

“Many theaters didn’t have the support to survive the COVID shutdowns. Those that did had strong support from the communities they serve,” Williams said. “Fundraising is key to a nonprofit arts organization’s life and one of the most challenging elements of building a successful, sustainable company. It requires donors to have faith in the vision and direction of the organization. It’s a bond of trust not easily earned, especially in difficult economic times.

“OTC’s supporters have championed the company through these difficult financial times and continue to do so with every donation,” Williams said. “With the diminishing availability of arts grants, this is a crucial time for individual giving and for strengthening the bond between patrons and the arts.”

‘Carrie: The Musical’

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17; 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18; 8 p.m. Oct. 23; 3 p.m. Oct. 24 and 25; 8 p.m. Oct. 26, Oct. 30 and 31

 Where: Sunshine Brooks Theater, 217 N. Coast Highway, Oceanside

Tickets: $20–$50, with some discounts

Phone: 760-433-8900

Online: oceansidetheatre.org