The Winnipesaukee Playhouse is a 200+ seat courtyard-style

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

in Meredith,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

, United States, in the heart of New Hampshire's Lakes Region. The Playhouse produces both a professional

summer stock In American theater, summer-stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock th ...

season and a

community theater Community theatre refers to any theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community. It may refer to a production that is made entirely by a community with no outside hel ...

season, and is arguably the only theater in the United States to do so.Gardner, Kevin
"It's An Uneasy Relationship"

New Hampshire Public Radio New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) is the National Public Radio member network serving the state of New Hampshire. NHPR is based in Concord and operates eight transmitters and six translators covering nearly the whole state, as well as portions of ...

. March 20, 2008. Accessed January 22, 2010 The Winnipesaukee Playhouse is the recipient of 46 New Hampshire Theater Awards over the past eight years,"New Hampshire Theatre Awards"
Winnipesaukee Playhouse. Accessed August 14, 2013. more than any other theater in the state during this time period,"MVSB awards grant to Winnipesaukee Playhouse"
''The Citizen''. August 16, 2009. Accessed January 22, 2010 and in 2009 it was selected by ''

New Hampshire Magazine ''New Hampshire'' is a monthly lifestyle publication focused on "joining readers in a quest for all the best New Hampshire has to offer." It is a member of the City and Regional Magazine Association (CRMA). History The early years ''New ...

'' as the best professional theater in New Hampshire."2009 Best of NH"
''New Hampshire Magazine''. Accessed January 21, 2010 In 2013 the Playhouse moved from Weirs Beach in Laconia to the former

Annalee Dolls Annalee Dolls, Inc., also known as Annalee Mobilitee Dolls Inc., and AMD Holdings Inc., is a company located in Meredith, New Hampshire, that manufactures collectible dolls. The company was founded by Barbara Annalee Davis (later Thorndike), w ...

campus in Meredith. The new theater has 200 seats as well as support spaces such as offices, dressing rooms, and a lobby, which the previous theater did not have.

History

The Winnipesaukee Playhouse was founded in 2004 by brother and sister Bryan Halperin and Lesley Pankhurst and their spouses, Johanna and Neil. They opened the Playhouse in the Alpenrose Plaza (the former Dexter Shoes outlet plaza) in the village of Weirs Beach in the city of Laconia, New Hampshire. The theater started with a professional summer stock season, and continued with community theater and children's theater during the rest of the year. In 2006 it became a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

. In 2008, Hidden Green LLC, investors in the Winnipesaukee Playhouse, purchased the Annalee Dolls factory site for $1.05 million. The Playhouse renovated this property to create a "

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the ...

type of setting" to perform theater and other endeavors in."Annalee property sold for playhouse"
'' New Hampshire Business Review''. February 1, 2008. Accessed January 17, 2010 The theater moved from its previous site in Weirs Beach to the site of Annalee's former gift shop in 2013. As of 2012, the Winnipesaukee Playhouse had performed 91 plays, 45 of which were professional

, with the rest being

or children's theater.Past Shows
Winnipesaukee Playhouse. Accessed January 28, 2010

New theater

The access to the Annalee Dolls campus allowed the Winnipesaukee Playhouse to greatly expand and create the first performing arts complex in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. The campus contains over of land dotted with seven buildings containing of space. The new campus offers a state-of-the-art theatre that can seat about 200 patrons, a summer theatre camp for students entering grades K–8, an outdoor amphitheater with performances available before select shows, and a brand-new menu. The entire project to create a performing arts campus cost roughly $4 million.Masek, Heidi
"Winnipesaukee Playhouse rolling forward"
''The Hippo''. Accessed January 22, 2010 The new theater, with almost 200 seats, more than doubles the audience space that the previous theatre held (84 seats)."Matching Pledge Offered to Jumpstart Fundraising for Winni Playhouse Construction in Meredith"
''

Broadway World BroadwayWorld is a theatre news website based in New York City covering Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, ...

''. January 13, 2010. Accessed January 22, 2010 Annalee and Winni Playhouse Campus Map

References

External links

{{commons category
Winnipesaukee Playhouse official site

Organizations established in 2004 Theatres in New Hampshire Buildings and structures in Belknap County, New Hampshire Tourist attractions in Belknap County, New Hampshire Meredith, New Hampshire