Winnipesaukee Playhouse
New 200+ seat theatre
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| Address | 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 |
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The Winnipesaukee Playhouse is a 200+ seat courtyard style theater located in Meredith, New Hampshire, United States, in the heart of New Hampshire's Lakes Region. The Playhouse produces both a professional season as well as a community theater season, and is arguably the only theater in the United States to do so. The Winnipesaukee Playhouse is the recipient of 46 New Hampshire Theater Awards over the past eight years, more than any other theater in the state during this time period, and in 2009 it was selected by New Hampshire Magazine as the best professional theater in New Hampshire. In 2013 the Winni Playhouse moved from Weirs Beach in Laconia to the former Annalee Dolls 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.
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 (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 then continued with community theater and children's theater during the rest of the year. In 2006 it became a non-profit organization.
In 2008, Hidden Green LLC, investors in the Winnipesaukee 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. 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 has performed 91 plays, 45 of which were professional , with the rest being community theater or children's theater.
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Wikipedia