Winnipesaukee Playhouse: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 15:37, 17 June 2013
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| Address | 50 Reservoir Road Meredith, New Hampshire United States of America |
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| Type | Regional Theater |
| Capacity | 200-250 |
| Opened | 2004 |
| Website | |
| www.winniplayhouse.org | |
The Winnipesaukee Playhouse, also referred to as the Winni Playhouse, is an 200-seat black box-style theater located in Merdith, New Hampshire. The Playhouse produces both a professional summer stock season as well as a community theater season, and is arguably the only theater in the United States to do so.[1] The Winni Playhouse is the recipient of 28 New Hampshire Theater Awards over the past 4 years,[2] more than any other theater in the state during this time period,[3] and in 2009 it was selected by New Hampshire Magazine as the best professional theater in New Hampshire.[4] The Winni Playhouse has moved into the former Annalee Dolls campus in Meredith, New Hampshire. This theater has 200 seats as well as support spaces such as offices, dressing rooms, and a lobby, which the previous theater in Weirs Beach did not have.[5]
History
The Winnipesaukee Playhouse was founded in 2004 by brother and sister Bryan Halperin and Lesley Pankhurst, as well as their spouses, Johanna and Neil. They opened the Playhouse in the Alpenrose Plaza (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 then continued with community theater and children's theater during the rest of the year.[5] In 2006 it became a non-profit organization.[6]
In 2008, Hidden Green LLC, investors in the Winni Playhouse, purchased the Annalee Dolls factory site for 1.05 million dollars. The Playhouse renovated this property to create a "Tanglewood type of setting" to perform theater and other endeavors in.[7] The theater moved from its previous site in Weirs Beach to the site of Annalee's former gift shop in 2013. Annalee still operates out of its corporate headquarters, a former chicken farm building on site.[8]
Since its inception, the Winnipesaukee Playhouse has performed 55 plays, 27 of which were professional summer stock, with the rest being community theater or children's theater.[9]
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.[10] The campus contains over 14 acres (5.7 ha) of land dotted with seven buildings containing 34,000 square feet (3,200 m2) of space.[7] 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 four million dollars.[5] The new theater, with almosat 200 seats more than doubles the audience space that the previous theatre held (84 seats).[10]
1a- Paint shop
1b- Rehearsal space (Future Black Box Theater)
2- Storage
3- Summer camp space
4- Rehearsal space (Future Main Theater)
5- Future Amphitheater site
6- Covered Bridge
7- Scene shop
8- Future company housing
9- Annalee Dolls corporate offices and Outlet Store
References
- ^ Gardner, Kevin. It's An Uneasy Relationship New Hampshire Public Radio. March 20, 2008. Accessed January 22, 2010
- ^ New Hampshire Theatre Awards. Winnipesaukee Playhouse. Accessed January 21, 2010
- ^ MVSB awards grant to Winnipesaukee Playhouse. The Citizen. August 16, 2009. Accessed January 22, 2010
- ^ 2009 Best of NH. New Hampshire Magazine. Accessed January 21, 2010
- ^ a b c Masek, Heidi. Winnipesaukee Playhouse rolling forward. The Hippo. Accessed January 22, 2010
- ^ History. Winnipesaukee Playhouse. Accessed January 21, 2010
- ^ a b Annalee property sold for playhouse. New Hampshire Business Review. February 1, 2008. Accessed January 17, 2010
- ^ Amsden, Roger. Annalee downsizes, outsources its way back to profitability, New Hampshire Union Leader. Oct. 23, 2006, accessed January 17, 2010.
- ^ Past Shows. Winnipesaukee Playhouse. Accessed January 28, 2010
- ^ a b Matching Pledge Offered to Jumpstart Fundraising for Winni Playhouse Construction in Meredith. Broadway World. January 13, 2010. Accessed January 22, 2010
External links
