For years, the second floor of the Dunbarton Town Hall sat empty, a stretch of old wooden floors and tall ceilings waiting for a purpose.
Now it’s a space that echoes with the voices of children rehearsing lines, running scenes, and bringing the space to life for the first time in years.
Natalie Pelham-Starkey, director of the Dunbarton Children’s Theatre, is one of the driving forces behind the project. Growing up, Pelham-Starkey did theater throughout elementary school, and when she moved to Dunbarton three and a half years ago, she noticed something missing.
“There were sports, but there wasn’t any that was creatively focused,” she said. “I just wanted to bring something to the table for the kids that weren’t necessarily interested in sports. Theater was a great place to start because it has that social component and it’s engaging on so many levels.”
The empty second floor of the town hall, built in 1909, turned out to be the perfect opportunity after it was restored a few years ago. Pelham-Starkey and others in Dunbarton teamed up with Theatre KAPOW to help build a youth theater program in that space.
For one week in August, the Dunbarton Recreation Committee ran an afternoon program for kids ages 7 to 12, culminating in a performance after the Old Home Day Parade.
For Carey Cahoon of Theatre KAPOW, working with the kids in the beautifully renovated space felt special. She said this type of performance space is common in many New Hampshire town halls and public buildings, and that commonality made the experience all the more meaningful.
The building used to be the heart of town life and business throughout the 20th century, until safety concerns eventually shut it down. The first floor is home to the town library.
With the children’s theater program starting again, Cahoon and the kids spend a lot of time talking through the story together and figuring out which parts stuck with the kids most as they prepared for the presentation.
“Almost all of them knew each other person in the room, but they hadn’t necessarily either been in class together or done an activity like this together,” Cahoon said. “So it was a lot of fun, kind of watching them build this connection with one another.”
A six-week program for children is also planned for the fall.
The second-floor space used for concerts, community group meetings, pageants, and all kinds of performances on its stage. But it sat unused for decades after the building fell out of compliance with safety codes, including old plumbing, an aging sprinkler system, and requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The town restored the space after town meeting voters approved the project in 2022.
The first performance by the kids there was based on”Where the Wild Things Are,” an illustrated children’s book.
The space also gives Dunbarton Elementary School students something they never had before: a theater space, said Pelham-Starkey.
“It’s phenomenal. The kids just open up the space. It’s really a sweet thing to witness and be part of,” she said. “Hopefully it opens up more and more usability for other programs that might want to set up there.”
