More ‘Misery’ on the way from Jobsite Theater

Annie Wilkes is back, and she’s got a sledgehammer with Paul Sheldon’s name on it.

The dysfunctional duo from Stephen King’s 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’s Straz Center, in a Jobsite Theater production.

It’s the second time Jobsite has staged the William Goldman adaptation of Misery. That’s because the first production, in 2023, sold out every single performance, five weeks’ worth.

Artistic director David M. Jenkins, who played helpless, hapless romance novelist Sheldon in the ’23 Misery, is reprising his role. As is Summer Bohnenkamp, who happens to be married to Jenkins in real life, as the writer’s deeply troubled “number one fan.” Paul Potenza is back in the director’s chair.

“There were a lot of reasons why we looked at Misery again,” Jenkins reveals. “A lot of people didn’t get to see it, a lot of people that we know loved it and wanted to see it again.”

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.

The ’23 Misery was in the Shimberg. This time, the Paul ‘n’ Annie horror tango is being performed in the Jaeb. Not only does it seat more people, it has a much larger stage area.

“It’s a bunch of weird calculus,” Jenkins explains, “just trying to figure out numbers. With Misery, because it was in the Shimberg, we were turning people away every night.”

Some of Jobsite’s best work, admittedly, has been done in the Shimberg. “But the technical capabilities are very limited,” he says. “The room wasn’t designed as a theater, so it doesn’t have the lighting capability that the Jaeb has.”

So … why not just do every show in the Jaeb?

“It’s exponentially more expensive. We have to engage union labor whenever we’re 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.”

Working in the larger venue mandates the hiring of additional security, ushers, cleaning and maintenance crews.

“Here’s a way to look at it,” Jenkins adds. “Some of our absolute, most successful shows, financially, in the Shimberg – the number we hit, we would lose our rear end terribly if a show did that same number in the Jaeb.”

Misery has a larger set this time around. “One of the things the Jaeb does, I think, is help with Paul’s isolation,” says Jenkins. “That was a little bit more difficult to do in the Shimberg because I was never more than eight feet away from an audience member.

“It 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.”

The bigger budget allowance, along with the upgrades in technology, paved the way for more … visceral special effects. If you know, you know.

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’s show they’ve actually heard of.

Re-mounting a proven smash like Misery falls somewhere in the grey, in-between zone.

“We have this conversation all the time in the American theater: Serve the community, serve the community,” Jenkins says. “But if you’re doing stuff nobody wants to see, who are you serving?

“We 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.”

(American Idiot and The Shark is Broken were produced as part of Jobsite’s 2025-2026 season.)

“Do I wish I could do things that are more ‘out there’ more often? Of course I do. But I can’t be stubborn. My job is to keep this company running. I would like to continue to have employment.

“I am not so haughty, or on such an artistic high horse, that I’m going to look past that.”

For Misery showtimes and tickets, visit the Jobsite website.