Enhance Your Experience
Videos, Reading & Resources

These resources are designed to enhance your experience of The Shining. Having re-defined the horror genre in its time, Stephen King’s novel has inspired the famous movie, a television mini-series, and a sequel novel by the author himself – in addition to the opera.
illuminating the shining
A series of events and conversations as part of OP’s Bullhorn Community Programs to help you discover more about this classic story. More content coming soon!
ADAPTING STEPHEN KING FOR THE STAGE
Think you know Stephen King’s The Shining? Join the Pulitzer and GRAMMY award winning team of composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell along with OP Artistic & Community Manager Daniel Harvey, as they dive into the pages of the classic novel and share their process of creating the operatic adaptation.
LOVE, SACRIFICE… & GHOSTS?!
Take a walk down the corridors of The Overlook Hotel with expert panelists to explore the psychology of King’s famous characters and uncover the lesser known themes of love, sacrifice and generational ties explored in this work. What is the enduring appeal of this story? How much of King’s work is autobiographical? Why do we crave horror? How does opera best shed new light on these universal themes?
Panelists:
Kearstin Piper Brown – Soprano
Katie Hafner – Journalist & Author of ‘The Boys’
Dr. Indre Viskontas – Neuroscientist & Stage Director
Moderated by Daniel Harvey – OP Artistic & Community Manager
STEPHEN KING
Stephen King established himself as a preeminent writer in the horror genre with The Shining, published in 1977. The themes are like others in his literary output: the thin line dividing reality from fantasy. His frightening plots emerge from ordinary daily routines. The storylines are not scary in and of themselves. But the way that bizarre occurrences affect believable characters cause terror to the reader. The ways ordinary people become monstrous by their own doing, mirroring King’s own history of drug and alcohol abuse.

Stephen King
Biography & Personal History

Writing Your Fear: Stephen King's 'The Shining'
by Grady Hendrix

The Great Stephen King Reread
by Grady Hendrix

Everything you've ever wanted to know about Stephen King
by Tor.com
The Shining as Gothic Literature
The Shining contains many elements of Gothic literature. It is rooted in the power of the past and how irrational violence influences the world. What Makes a Gothic Novel (Carla M. Paton. The Writing Collective. 2022, Mar 2) – Atmosphere & setting, Visions and Omens, Supernatural events: Mystery & fear, Women in distress, Tyranny of men. Enjoy these other examples of gothic literature.

Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley

The Turn of the Screw
by Henry James

Beloved
by Toni Morrison

The Masque of the Red Death
by Edgar Allan Poe

Mexican Gothic
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
WHY DO WE CRAVE HORROR?
Recreational Fear Lab
A research center at Aarhus University, Denmark studying frightening leisure activities, such as haunted house attractions and horror movies, and are interested in the psychological, physiological, and social dimensions of recreational fear.

A Very Nervous Person's Guide to Horror Movies
by Mathias Clasen
STEPHEN KING ON STAGE

Dolores Claiborne
An opera by Tobias Picker Libretto by J. D. McClatchy
San Francisco Opera World Premiere production featuring Patricia Racette & Catherine Cook in the title role

Misery
A Broadway play by William Goldman
2016 Broadway production starring Laurie Metcalf & Bruce Willis