Powerhouse brings Winnie the Pooh to Lakes Region, Boston

LACONIA — Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative, the resident theater company of the Colonial Theatre in Laconia, is taking some talented teens on a tour of the Lakes Region with a theater experience to celebrate the 100th birthday of Winnie The Pooh.

“Pooh’s Birthday Surprise” is a new play adapted from the original “Winnie the Pooh” stories by AA Milne and is written by Jaydie Halperin. Halperin’s plays are familiar to Powerhouse audiences as she wrote “Montague and Capulet” and “The Boys in the Tower” which were featured in prior Powerhouse seasons. This will be the first production in Powerhouse’s 2026 Spark Series.

“Like many people, I grew up with ‘Winnie the Pooh,’” said Halperin. “Now that Pooh and friends have entered the public domain, I was excited for the chance to adapt some of the stories I remember from my childhood to make them accessible to a new generation.”

In this funny and sweet play that is appropriate for families with kids of all ages, Christopher Robin tells Pooh that he’ll come back to the 100 Acre Wood for “someone’s birthday” that evening and Pooh doesn’t realize the someone he is referring to is Pooh himself. So Pooh sets off to figure out whose birthday it is and ends up planning his own party with help from Piglet, Owl, Kanga and Roo, Rabbit, Eeyore and, of course, Tigger.

Tanner Olson will play Pooh and be joined by David Walker as Piglet, Greta Gaw as Eeyore, Cecelia Ewers as Kanga, Estelle Carr as Tigger, Logan Currier as Christopher Robin/Roo, and Jacoby Spaulding as Owl/Rabbit. The production will be directed by Courtney Palmer.

Performances will be held Feb. 25-27 at the public libraries in Gilford, Laconia, Meredith and Plymouth and at the Belknap Mill in Laconia. Admission is free and most performances will be followed by a snack or craft provided by the host.

Powerhouse will be hitting the road and performing out-of-state for the first time. Halperin is also the interpretation manager at The West End Museum in Boston, which will host the teens for a performance on Saturday, Feb. 28.

For more information, visit powerhousenh.org/pooh.