Winnipesaukee Playhouse facts for kids
New 200+ seat theatre
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| Address | 33 Footlight Circle (formerly 50 Reservoir Road) Meredith, New Hampshire United States |
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| Coordinates | 43°38′14″N 71°30′30″W / 43.6372°N 71.5083°W |
| Type | Regional theater |
| Capacity | 200–250 |
| Opened | 2004; Relocated 2013 |
The Winnipesaukee Playhouse is a special theater in Meredith, New Hampshire, a town in the beautiful Lakes Region of New Hampshire, USA. It's a modern theater with over 200 seats. This playhouse is unique because it offers two types of shows: professional plays during the summer and shows put on by local people (community theater) throughout the rest of the year.
The Winnipesaukee Playhouse has won many awards. It has received 46 New Hampshire Theater Awards in the last eight years. This is more than any other theater in the state! In 2009, New Hampshire Magazine even named it the best professional theater in New Hampshire. In 2013, the Playhouse moved from Weirs Beach to its current location in Meredith. The new building has plenty of space for offices, dressing rooms, and a lobby, which the old theater did not have.
History of the Playhouse
The Winnipesaukee Playhouse was started in 2004. It was founded by a brother and sister, Bryan Halperin and Lesley Pankhurst, along with their spouses, Johanna and Neil. They first opened the theater in Weirs Beach, which is part of Laconia.
The theater began by putting on professional shows during the summer. For the rest of the year, they had shows by local community groups and plays for children. In 2006, the Playhouse became a non-profit organization. This means it uses its money to support its mission, not to make a profit for owners.
In 2008, a group of investors bought the old Annalee Dolls factory site. This site cost $1.05 million. The Playhouse planned to turn this property into a special place for theater and other events. In 2013, the theater moved from Weirs Beach to the Annalee Dolls site. It moved into what used to be Annalee's gift shop.
By 2012, the Winnipesaukee Playhouse had put on 91 plays. About half of these were professional summer shows. The other half were community theater or children's plays.
New Theater Campus
Moving to the Annalee Dolls campus allowed the Winnipesaukee Playhouse to grow a lot. It became the first performing arts center in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. The campus is very large, with over 14 acres of land. There are seven buildings on the campus, offering 34,000 square feet of space.
The new campus has a modern theater that can seat about 200 people. This is more than double the size of the old theater, which only had 84 seats! The campus also offers:
- A summer theater camp for students in grades K-8.
- An outdoor amphitheater where special performances happen before some shows.
- A brand-new menu for visitors.
The whole project to create this performing arts campus cost about $4 million.
* 1a- Paint shop
* 1b- Rehearsal space (will be a Black Box Theater in the future)
* 2- Storage
* 3- Summer camp space
* 4- Main Theater
* 5- Amphitheater
* 6- Covered Bridge
* 7- Scene shop
* 8- Company housing
* 9- Former Annalee Dolls corporate offices and Outlet Store (torn down in 2013, possibly for a future education building)
