Annie Wilkes is back, and she\u2019s got a sledgehammer with Paul Sheldon\u2019s name on it.<\/p>\n
The dysfunctional duo from Stephen King\u2019s novel Misery, and the Oscar-winning movie adaptation from director Rob Reiner, will be onstage Oct. 14-Nov. 8 at the Jaeb Theatre, in Tampa\u2019s Straz Center, in a Jobsite Theater production.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the second time Jobsite has staged the William Goldman adaptation of Misery. That\u2019s because the first production, in 2023, sold out every single performance, five weeks\u2019 worth.<\/p>\n
Artistic director David M. Jenkins, who played helpless, hapless romance novelist Sheldon in the \u201923 Misery, is reprising his role. As is Summer Bohnenkamp, who happens to be married to Jenkins in real life, as the writer\u2019s deeply troubled \u201cnumber one fan.\u201d Paul Potenza is back in the director\u2019s chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of reasons why we looked at Misery again,\u201d Jenkins reveals. \u201cA lot of people didn\u2019t get to see it, a lot of people that we know loved it and wanted to see it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jobsite does its shows in two Straz Center theaters. The Shimberg Playhouse, an intimate black box, seats 98. Next door is the Jaeb Theatre, with a capacity of 300.<\/p>\n
The \u201923 Misery was in the Shimberg. This time, the Paul \u2018n\u2019 Annie horror tango is being performed in the Jaeb. Not only does it seat more people, it has a much larger stage area.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bunch of weird calculus,\u201d Jenkins explains, \u201cjust trying to figure out numbers. With Misery, because it was in the Shimberg, we were turning people away every night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of Jobsite\u2019s best work, admittedly, has been done in the Shimberg. \u201cBut the technical capabilities are very limited,\u201d he says. \u201cThe room wasn\u2019t designed as a theater, so it doesn\u2019t have the lighting capability that the Jaeb has.\u201d<\/p>\n
So \u2026 why not just do every show in the Jaeb?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exponentially more expensive. We have to engage union labor whenever we\u2019re in the Jaeb, even for just a tech rehearsal. And that makes the everyday cost of being in there significantly more than it costs in the Shimberg.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working in the larger venue mandates the hiring of additional security, ushers, cleaning and maintenance crews.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere\u2019s a way to look at it,\u201d Jenkins adds. \u201cSome of our absolute, most successful shows, financially, in the Shimberg \u2013 the number we hit, we would lose our rear end terribly if a show did that same number in the Jaeb.\u201d<\/p>\n
Misery has a larger set this time around. \u201cOne of the things the Jaeb does, I think, is help with Paul\u2019s isolation,\u201d says Jenkins. \u201cThat was a little bit more difficult to do in the Shimberg because I was never more than eight feet away from an audience member.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has allowed us to open up the playing space and work with a little more room. The staging we had in the Shimberg was bare bones by design.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bigger budget allowance, along with the upgrades in technology, paved the way for more \u2026 visceral special effects. If you know, you know.<\/p>\n
Jobsite, like every professional theater in the country, walks a tender line between producing edgy, challenging works and keeping folks in the seats because it\u2019s show they\u2019ve actually heard of.<\/p>\n
Re-mounting a proven smash like Misery falls somewhere in the grey, in-between zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have this conversation all the time in the American theater: Serve the community, serve the community,\u201d Jenkins says. \u201cBut if you\u2019re doing stuff nobody wants to see, who are you serving?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can do good work, and produce very exciting things, and meet the audience in the middle. And I think that is a Misery. That is an American Idiot. That is a The Shark is Broken.\u201d<\/p>\n
(American Idiot and The Shark is Broken were produced as part of Jobsite\u2019s 2025-2026 season.)<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I wish I could do things that are more \u2018out there\u2019 more often? Of course I do. But I can\u2019t be stubborn. My job is to keep this company running. I would like to continue to have employment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not so haughty, or on such an artistic high horse, that I\u2019m going to look past that.\u201d<\/p>\n