Photo/Renee Cordes
Autographed photos of famous actors line the walls of the Ogunquit Playhouse. They include Gavin MacLeod (top) and Bob Denver, who are best-known for their TV roles.
Updated: June 12, 2019
Next act dawns for historic Ogunquit Playhouse after voters back zoning change
Photo/Renee Cordes
The Ogunquit Playhouse has a storied history that goes back more than 85 years. The current show is "Jersey Boys," which runs through June 15.
Long-planned renovations and expansion on the Ogunquit Playhouse can finally move ahead after voters on Tuesday approved a needed zoning change.
By a vote of 415 for and 86 against, voters said "yes" to Question 5 on the ballot, which creates new zoning for the theater and preserves its status as a nonprofit performing arts theater, according to the Town Clerk's office Wednesday morning.
Twenty-nine ballots left Question 5 blank, on an election day that saw 40% of voter turnout.
The result means that Executive Artistic Director Brad Kenney and his team can begin thinking about ways to bring the historic venue up to modern standards, which had been hampered by zoning.
They will also seek to determine the price tag and then look at ways to raise the needed funds.
Calling Tuesday's result "extraordinary news," Kenney told Mainebiz "it's a bit overwhelming I think, not just the fact that it was accomplished but the margin by which it was accomplished."
He noted that the historic building alone sits in three different zones, and there are a total of five zones going through the property.
"That property is now zoned for all time only for the exclusive use of a nonprofit performing arts theater and other [related] uses," Kenney said. "I don't know if that's ever happened before."
Asked about what's next, he said there will now be thinking and discussion on prioritizing need-based structural improvements such as making indoor restrooms accessible to people in wheelchairs and revamping a beloved historic venue.
From a bigger-picture perspective, he also spoke of the Ogunquit Playhouse's mission "to be a new leader in American theater," not just in terms of what's on stage but also the theater-going experience for audience members.
The Ogunquit Playhouse, located on Route One in the York County town whose sandy beaches and quaint boutiques are a huge tourist draw, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Its roots go back to 1933, when Broadway showman Walter Hartwig and his wife, Maude, arrived in town to open a summer theater as part of the so-called “Little Theatre Movement” of the 1920s and 1930s.
Hartwig’s connections lured many theater luminaries to Ogunquit, including Ethyl Barrymore of the famous family of actors and often called "the First Lady of American theater," and Maude Adams, most famous for playing Peter Pan on Broadway going back to 1905.
The present-day white building, located on what had once been farmland, opened its doors on July 17, 1937.
Unlike other summer theaters of its day, the Playhouse was built exclusively as a seasonal venue, which it remains to this day although now over the course of three seasons (spring, summer and fall). Today it is the largest performing arts organization in Maine.
The lobby and bar area feature autographed portraits of dozens of actors who have performed there.
They include the late Bob Denver, of “Gilligan’s Island” fame, and Gavin MacLeod, best-known for his TV roles as Murray Slaughter in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and Captain Merrill Stubing on "The Love Boat."
Today it produces between five and seven musicals every year over the course of 25 weeks on its own stage as well as a holiday show at the Music Hall in Portsmouth, N.H., for an additional four weeks.
2019 season
After “Jersey Boys” wraps up on June 15, next up is “42nd Street” from June 19-July 13 featuring Sally Struthers of “All in the Family” 1970s sitcom fame, a regular at the Playhouse for nearly two decades.
That will be followed by “Cabaret”, and then the theater’s first play in more than a decade, Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” and two musicals to finish the season, “Menopause The Musical,” and “Kinky Boots.”
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