Cue the sun — Winni Playhouse is back in action, outside

MEREDITH — It may have seemed inconsequential, but when a woman wearing 17th Century attire stepped onto sun-dabbled boards on Tuesday afternoon, what the handful of people in attendance saw was the return of live theater to the Lakes Region.

The performance on Tuesday was the final dress rehearsal for “Or,” a production kicking off a three-title run at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse. The nonprofit arts organization, normally a destination for professional theater in the summer, has been quiet since the state’s initial lockdown period began in March.

Tuesday’s dress rehearsal was just as much about the audience as it was about the actors. A handful of friends of the Playhouse were invited to try out the new amphitheater and for Playhouse staff to see how traffic flow and seating will work in an environment where virus safety is paramount.

To protect the health of audience members and staff, guests and non-dramatic employees will be required to wear masks at all times, even while seated. Parties will be seated together, with at least four empty seats between each party. Actors on stage won’t wear masks, but that’s permitted because they’ve all tested negative for the coronavirus and have been living together in a closed “pod” for at least two weeks. And the first two shows of the three-show run will take place on the freshly renovated outdoor stage on the Winnipesaukee Playhouse campus.

Neil Pankhurst, creative director for the Winnipesaukee Playhouse, said that the development of the amphitheater was always part of the vision for the property, but that other projects took priority as the years ticked by.

This year, though, all those other projects were put on ice, leaving the Playhouse free to turn to the amphitheater. The space had a simple, small stage, with a few rows of grassy terraces for seating. Now, it has a larger stage, and the seating has been hardscaped with four-by-fours and crushed stone. Four rows of terraced bench seating will be nearest the stage, with folding outdoor seats arranged on a tiered deck behind.

Under normal operations, the amphitheater could seat up to 150 people. The capacity this fall will be a fraction of that, in order to leave space between parties.

“Or,” a work of historic fiction that imagines the complicated life of England’s first female playwright, will be staged September 2-6 and 9-12 at 4 p.m. each day.

Up next will be another reimagining of history: “The Mountaintop,” which explores what may have happened in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s hotel room on the eve of his assassination. “The Mountaintop” will be staged Sept. 16-20 and 23-26.

The third title in this year’s abbreviated professional run is “No Wake,” a story set in Moultonborough about two people who, though from different generations, form a friendship over the course of a summer. “No Wake” will be staged indoors, with a dozen different shows from Sept. 30 to Oct. 11. Though indoors, the same safety measures as employed outdoors will be observed for “No Wake.”

Pankhurst said that there’s no chance that the two outdoor shows will sell enough tickets to justify the renovations.

“We haven’t made this decision for economic reasons,” he said. Instead, the effort was made to “try and bring some theater back to the Lakes Region.”

“This is an experiment. Can we do it, can we do it safely? We think we can,” Pankhurst said. There’s a second question, though: “Will we get an audience that wants to come outside and see it?”

That’s an important question because, as he said, “We might be in the same position next year.”