Andy's Summer Playhouse is a youth theater located in

Wilton, New Hampshire Wilton is a New England town, town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,896 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Like many small New England towns, it grew up arou ...

. Andy's Summer Playhouse programs foster creative collaborations between children and professional artists who work in a variety of media: performance art, theater, dance, music, puppetry, video, set and lighting design and playwriting. In addition to its unique mission to produce original and adapted plays for children, the theater boasts a number of well-known alumni and teaching artists, including

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

winning artists

Stephen Karam Stephen Karam (born ) is an American playwright, screenwriter and director. His plays '' Sons of the Prophet'', a comedy-drama about a Lebanese-American family, and '' The Humans'' were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2012 and 2016, ...

and

Lisa Kron Elizabeth S. "Lisa" Kron (born May 20, 1961) is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for writing the lyrics and book for the musical '' Fun Home'', for which she won both the Tony Award for Best Original Score and the Tony Awar ...

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

winning artists Paul Jacobs and Sarah Durkee,

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

winning playwright

David Lindsay-Abaire David Lindsay-Abaire (né Abaire; born November 30, 1969) is an American playwright, lyricist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 for his play '' Rabbit Hole'', which also earned several Tony Award nominations. Lin ...

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

winning authors

Brian Selznick Brian Selznick (born July 14, 1966) is an American illustrator and author best known as the writer of '' The Invention of Hugo Cabret'' (2007), '' Wonderstruck'' (2011), ''The Marvels'' (2015) and ''Kaleidoscope'' (2021). He won the 2008 Caldecot ...

and Elizabeth Orton Jones,"Caldecott Medal & Honor Books, 1938 - Present"

Association for Library Service to Children The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is a division of the American Library Association. ALSC has over 4,000 members, including children, experts in children's literature, publishers, faculty members, and other adults. The Associa ...

. ALA. Retrieved 2012-07-2. as well as several Alpert, Bessie,

Obie The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

, and

Drama Desk The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

Award winning artists.

History

Named after children's book illustrator C. W. Anderson, Andy's was founded in 1971 by two teachers at the Mascenic Regional School, Margaret Sawyer and William Williams. The Playhouse found its first home in

Mason, New Hampshire Mason is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,448 at the 2020 census. Mason, together with Wilton, is home to Russell-Abbott State Forest. History Mason was first known as "Number One", the easternm ...

, and was later relocated to a historic meeting house in Wilton. From 1980 to 1993, the playhouse grew under the artistic direction of

Dan Hurlin Dan Hurlin (born 1955) is an American puppeteer and performance artist. Life and work Performance works include: ''No(thing so powerful as) Truth'' (1995); ''Constance and Ferdinand'' (1991) with Victoria Marks; ''Quintland (The Musical)'' (1992 ...

, who attracted a number of internationally recognized artists from

PS 122 Performance Space New York, formerly known as Performance Space 122 or P.S. 122, is a non-profit arts organization founded in 1980 in the East Village of Manhattan in an abandoned public school building. Origin The former elementary school, Pu ...

, The Kitchen, 8BC, WOW Cafe and other avant-garde theatre venues in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. From 1994 to 2007, the theater was led by director and playwright Robert Lawson, and DJ Potter served as Artistic Director from 2008 to 2014. Both artists further solidified the organization's professional reputation, and increasingly involved alumni in the artistic and executive operations of the theatre. The theatre was run by Jared Mezzocchi, from 2014 until 2024. At the end of season 54, playwrights SMJ and Jess Honovich were announced to be the new Co-Artistic Directors for the 2025 season.

The Building

Andy's sits on the site of the original meeting house of Wilton, a log structure built in 1752 but then torn down and replaced with a larger meeting house in 1779. The second meeting house served the town for 80 years until it burned down in 1859. The town voted to build a third meeting house (the building that stands today) on the same spot, at a cost "not to exceed $2,500" and the building was completed in 1860. The original

Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, military officer and industrialist who played a major role during the opening months of the American Revolutionary War in Massachusetts, ...

and Sons bell damaged in the fire was recast by Henry Northey Hooper & Sons of Boston and placed in the new building, where it remains today in the bell tower. In 1883, the town moved its business to a new Town Hall located several miles to the east in what is now downtown Wilton, so the current building was sold in 1884 to a group of interested citizens and renamed Citizens Hall. It served for many years as a public meeting hall, and was taken over by the National Grange organization in 1925, and then by Wilton

Lions Club Lions Clubs International, is an international service organization, currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. , it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members (including the youth wing Leo clubs, Leo) in more than 200 ge ...

in 1968. The Pine Hill Waldorf School bought the building in 1978 and for several years ran a school on the site. It was sold to Andy's Summer Playhouse on August 11, 1985.

Notable alumni and teaching artists

* Henry Akona, director and composer * Jess Barbagallo, playwright and performer * Patrick Boutwell, musician * David Bowles, director *

Rosellen Brown Rosellen Brown (born May 12, 1939) is an American author, and has been an instructor of English and creative writing at several universities, including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Houston. The 1996 film ''Bef ...

, author *

Matthew Buckingham Matthew Buckingham (born 1963) is an American filmmaker and multimedia artist. He is a full-time faculty member at Columbia University and is the chair of the visual arts department. Life and work Buckingham studied at the Art Institute of Chic ...

, filmmaker and multimedia artist * Lenora Champagne, playwright and performing artist * Emmanuelle Chaulet, actress *

Austin Chick Austin Chick (born 1971) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer, who made the film '' XX/XY'', released in 2002, and ''August'', which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Early life Although born in Hartford, Connectic ...

, film director, screenwriter and producer * Catherine Coray, director, actor and teacher *

Migdalia Cruz Migdalia Cruz is a writer of plays, musical theatre and opera in the U.S. and has been translated into Spanish, French, Arabic, Greek, and Turkish. Her works have been produced in venues as diverse as Playwrights Horizons in New York City, the ...

, playwright *

Dancenoise Dancenoise is an American performance art duo created by Anne Iobst and Lucy Sexton. Dancenoise entered the New York and Washington, D.C., art and club scene in 1983, performing at venues such as WOW Café, the Pyramid, 8BC, Performance Space 122 ...

, performance artists * Kyle deCamp, multimedia performance artist *

David Dorfman David Dorfman (born February 7, 1993) is an American attorney and retired actor. He portrayed Aidan Keller in the 2002 horror film remake '' The Ring'' and its 2005 sequel, ''The Ring Two''. His other film roles include Sammy in ''Panic'', Joe ...

, choreographer and teacher * Sarah Durkee, singer-songwriter, lyricist, and writer *

Edward Einhorn Edward Einhorn (born September 6, 1970) is an American playwright, theater director, and novelist. Early life, education and career A native of Westfield, New Jersey, Einhorn graduated from Westfield High School, where he was an editor of the ...

, playwright, director and novelist * Daniel Mark Epstein, poet, dramatist and biographer *

Dan Froot Dan Froot is an American performance artist, writer, dancer, composer and saxophonist. In 1991, Froot received a Bessie Award for his music theater work, ''Seventeen Kilos of Garlic''. In 2001, he received a City of Los Angeles Individual Artist F ...

, performance artist and musician * Rosanna Gamson, choreographer and director *

Janie Geiser Janie Geiser (born 1957 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is an American artist and experimental filmmaker. Her notable works include ''The Fourth Watch'', ''Terrace 49'', '' The Red Book'', ''The Secret Story'', ''Colors'', ''Immer Zu'', ''Lost Motion'' ...

, artist and experimental filmmaker *

Alex Gino Alex Gino (born October 1, 1977) is a genderqueer American children's book writer. Gino's debut book, ''Melissa'', was the winner of the 2016 Stonewall Book Award and the 2016 Lambda Literary Award in the category of LGBT Children's/Young Adult ...

, children's book author *

Jonathan Glatzer Jonathan Glatzer (born 21 October 1969) is an American writer, director, and producer. Life and career Glatzer is a television writer and producer for such shows as ''Succession'',''Better Call Saul'', ''Bloodline'', and ''Bad Sisters'' A ...

, writer, director and producer *

James Godwin James Basil "Gib" Godwin III (born February 6, 1951), a retired Rear Admiral (upper half) of the United States Navy, was the Program Executive Officer – Enterprise Information Systems of the United States Department of the Navy, Departmen ...

, actor *

Mimi Goese Mimi Goese (last name rhymes with ''hazy'') is an American professional musician. Career Goese was the vocalist for dream pop band Hugo Largo. Solo Under the mononym "Mimi", she released a solo album, ''Soak'', on the Luaka Bop label, with cont ...

, musician * Ain Gordon, playwright, director and actor * Neil Greenberg, choreographer * David Greenspan, actor and playwright *

Rinne Groff Rinne Groff (aka Rinne Becker Groff) is an American playwright and performer. Biography Groff was trained at Yale University and New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where she currently teaches. A founding member of Elevator Repair Serv ...

, playwright and performer * Sharon Hayes, multimedia artist *

Cynthia Hopkins Cynthia Hopkins is an American performance artist, composer, and musician. Review of Hopkins' performance of ''Accidental Nostalgia'' at the Edinburgh Festival. Performance work She has written, composed, and performed five works of performance ...

, performance artist, composer and musician * Holly Hughes, performance artist *

Sam Huntington Sam Huntington (born April 1, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Josh Levison on the Syfy series '' Being Human'' (2011–2014), Mimi-Siku in the Tim Allen vehicle '' Jungle 2 Jungle'' (1997) and Jimmy Olsen in the ...

, actor *

, puppeteer and performance artist * Anne Iobst, performance artist * Paul Jacobs, composer and musician * Amy Jenkins, artist and experimental filmmaker * Elizabeth Orton Jones, illustrator and children's book author *

Myles Kane Myles Kane (born 1979) is an American film producer and wizard rock artist (performing under the name MC Kreacher). Film He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film from the Pratt Institute in 2001. In 2002 he co-founded the Brooklyn Unde ...

, film producer and

wizard rock Wizard rock (or Wrock) is an evolving type of novelty rock music and filk music themed around the ''Harry Potter'' franchise. The music was largely prevalent in the United States in the early 2000s. Wizard rock initially started in Massachusetts ...

artist *

, playwright and screenwriter * John Kelly, performance artist * Andy Kirshner, composer, performer, writer and media artist *

, actress and playwright * Robert Lawson, writer, director, composer and visual artist * David Leslie, performance artist and stuntman *

Elizabeth Levy Elizabeth Levy (born April 4, 1942) is an American author who has written over eighty children's books in a variety of genres. Born in Buffalo, New York, she is currently living in New York City. She has appeared as a contestant on ''Billy on t ...

, children's book author * Chris Lindsay-Abaire, actress *

, playwright, lyricist and screenwriter * Sondra Loring, dancer, choreographer and actor * Erika Kate MacDonald, performing artist and playwright * Linda Mancini, actor, writer and performance artist *

Victoria Marks Victoria Marks (born 1954) is a professor of choreography in the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA, where she has been teaching since 1995. Before taking her post at UCLA she lived in London, where for three and a half years she worked ...

, choreographer and teacher * Jared Mezzocchi, multimedia theatre director and designer * Sarah McLellan, executive director * Tom Murrin, performance artist and playwright *

Eileen Myles Eileen Myles (born December 9, 1949) is an American poet and writer who has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, libretti, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. Novelist Dennis Cooper has des ...

, poet and writer * Jim Neu, playwright *

Qui Nguyen Qui Nguyen is a Vietnamese playwright, screenwriter and director. He is best known for his plays '' She Kills Monsters'' and ''Vietgone''. He is also known for writing ''Raya and the Last Dragon'' and '' Strange World''. Career He is a play ...

, playwright and fight director *

Brooke O'Harra Brooke O'Harra is a director, playwright, performer, and (with composer Brendan Connelly) co-founder of the Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to thea ...

, writer, director and performer * Julia Older, poet and translator * Pat Oleszko, performance artist * Claire Porter, choreographer and comedian *

Dave Quay Dave may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the 1993 film * ''Dave'' (TV series), a 2020 American comedy series * ...

, actor *

Alice Reagan Alice Reagan is an American theater director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre per ...

, director * Jenny Romaine, puppeteer, performer and director *

John C. Russell ''Stupid Kids'' is a play by John C. Russell (1963–1994), first published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. of New York City, New York, and first performed in 1991. Very similar in tone, plot, and characters to the film Rebel Without a Cause, t ...

, playwright *

Dan Moses Schreier Dan Moses Schreier is an American composer and sound designer. He is best known for his theatrical music work, on Broadway and elsewhere. Schreier is from Detroit, and lives in New York City. He studied music at the University of Michigan and ...

, composer and sound designer *

, children's book author and illustrator *

Lucy Sexton Lucy Sexton is a performer, director and choreographer who performs as Factress and is one half of Dancenoise. She is a Bessie Award winner, and later served as the organization's executive director before stepping down in 2020. As of 2014, sh ...

, performance artist and producer *

Louise Smith Louise Smith (July 31, 1916, in Barnesville, Georgia – April 15, 2006) was tied for the second woman to race in NASCAR at the top level. She was known as "the first lady of racing." She went as a spectator to her first NASCAR race at the Dayt ...

, playwright and actress * Kate Snodgrass, director and playwright *

Henry Stram Henry Stram (born September 10, 1954) is an American actor and singer. He is the son of famous NFL coach Hank Stram. Early life Stram grew up in Kansas City, while his father was the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. He performed with The Barn ...

, actor *

Carmelita Tropicana Alina Troyano, more commonly known as Carmelita Tropicana, is a Cuban-American stage and film lesbian actress who lives and works in New York City. Career Troyano burst on New York's downtown performing arts scene in the 1980s with her alter ego, ...

, performance artist * Fritz Van Orden, musician * Meiyin Wang, director * Washboard Jungle, musicians *

Erik White Erik White is an American music video director. In 2010, he made his feature film directorial debut with the comedy film ''Lottery Ticket'', starring rappers Bow Wow and Ice Cube. He appeared on the reality show competition '' The Glee Project' ...

, musician * Kristine Woods, visual artist

References

{{authority control Theatres in New Hampshire Youth theatre companies in the United States Theatre companies in New Hampshire Wilton, New Hampshire Education in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Tourist attractions in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire