Powerhouse’s New Play Festival is back at Prescott Farm

LACONIA ― Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative, the resident theater company of the Colonial Theatre, returns with their free annual New Play Festival, on the grounds of beautiful Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center in Laconia. This year’s event consists of performances of 14 new, short plays making their world premieres, all written by community members. This event is completely free to the

public and will be held on Saturday, May 30, and Sunday, May 31. Performances start at 1 p.m. with plays performing in different areas around the farm. The performance schedule can be found at powerhousenh.org/playfestival26. The schedule is designed in such a way that you can see the plays at each of the three locations in one day if you want to see them all.

The 2026 Play Festival is the culmination of Powerhouse’s winter playwriting workshop where participants write original short plays during the 10-week online workshop. This workshop consisted of experienced playwrights as well as those brand new to playwriting. There is something for everyone in this festival: Comedy, tragedy, drama, fantasy, melodrama, etc.

There are three locations around the farm for each collection of plays dubbed the Well, the Rock, and Picnic. Each location’s plays will hold two sessions each day. Be sure to bring lawn chairs, picnic blankets, and sunscreen as all performances will be outside. In the event of rain, performances will move inside the barn and the Picnic plays will begin at 1 p.m. followed by Well plays at approximately 2:10 p.m. followed by Rock plays at 3:20 p.m. Bring an umbrella (to walk the path from parking to the barn).

The 2026 Play Festival is sponsored by season sponsors LaValley Middleton Building Supply, Grappone Automotive Group, and Meredith Village Savings Bank; our Spark Series sponsors, The Laconia Daily Sun and The Taylor Community; and our production sponsors, Franklin Savings Bank and LakeFront Living Realty, The Smith Group.

For all the details on the festival and to read the digital program go to powerhousenh.org/playfestival26.

 The season continues June 27 with the special event celebrating America250, "1776 the Musical in Concert" at the Colonial Theatre in collaboration with the Lakes Region Symphony Orchestra.