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Kathryn Gourley has a fondness for musicals such as "Kiss Me, Kate" and "The Sound of Music," stories that end on a happy or, at least, a hopeful note.

But when Gourley, a senior theater major at the University of New Mexico, went looking for her first directing project, she settled on something much darker in theme, something much more disturbing.

During a time of year when a lot of stages are devoted to feel-good holiday fare, Gourley is directing Rebecca Gilman's "Boy Gets Girl," about a young woman destroyed by a stalker. The production is at Albuquerque's Sol Arts.

"Sol Arts was really excited to do the play because they are all about experimental theater and doing things that are different," said Gourley, 21. "I chose this play because it is interesting to look at how relationships in today's society can be warped, because I was interested in the whole idea between stalking and betrayal."

And because she knows that theater — like life — isn't all happy endings.

"Theater explores every aspect of life," she said. "Even some musicals — 'Sweeney Todd,' 'Phantom of the Opera' — don't have happy endings."

Gilman's play is set in New York City. Theresa (Jaclyn Jardine), who works for a literary magazine, goes on a blind date with Tony (Blake Catherwood), who is employed in the computer industry.

Tony seems nice at first. But during their second date, Theresa realizes they are not a good match and politely breaks off the relationship.

But Tony won't let go. He pursues her at her office, leaves unsettling messages on her phone, reduces her to a terrified shell of the promising young woman she once was.

Her co-workers support her but can't save her. The police investigate but can't protect her.

She is alone with her fear.

"The play is really about Theresa's inner struggle and this force, which is Tony, that destroys everything," Gourley said.

She said the play made her think about the relationship between men and women in ways she never had before.

"One of the parts in the play is all about how women don't have as much time in the home anymore," she said. "Women are becoming more powerful, and I think some men find it threatening. That's one motivation for stalking. Others are about an individual's own personality."

The playwright puts Tony on stage in the first act but in the wings in the second.

"You can see him quite clearly in the first act, and the audience is drawn to him," Gourley said. "In the second act, he becomes more of an idea, and the audience is not so drawn to him."

There are seven cast members and two ensemble members. The ensemble members are background people, office workers and others walking around and passing by to give the play a sense of realism.

But Gourley said the other seven characters are fully realized by Gilman.

"By the end of the play, the audience knows everybody's stories and how they all fit together," she said.

In a sense, New York City itself is a character. Gilman chose to set the play there even though the playwright is a native of Alabama and now lives in Chicago. "Boy Gets Girl" even made its debut in Chicago.

"But I think New York is a really great place to put this play, because it is such a busy place," Gourley said. "There are so many people there that it is easy to melt into the background. I think Tony likes the anonymous feeling New York gives him."

He likes the power it gives him over Theresa.

"This play really causes people to look at the relationship between men and women and what the extremes can be," Gourley said.

"Boy Gets Girl" will not make you feel the warm glow of the season. But life is not all happy holidays.