Lincoln, NH, June 22, 2011: This summer, Loon Mountain is proud to host North Country Center for the Arts’ Papermill Theatre while their new, year-round facility, Jean’s Playhouse, is under construction. The Papermill Theatre kicks off its 25th Mainstage season on July 1 and 26th Children’s Theatre season on June 27. This summer’s Mainstage shows, performed at Loon’s Governor’s Base Lodge, include the popular I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, RENT and Almost, Maine.

The Papermill Theatre will celebrate its 25th Mainstage anniversary with an Opening Night Gala on Friday, July 1. The Opening Night Gala will include a supper buffet provided by the Woodstock Inn, Station and Brewery and Gordi’s Fish and Steak House, beer and wine tasting, guest performances by the Papermill Children’s Theatre company, and a raffle. Opening Night Gala attendees will enjoy the premier performance of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, a hilarious musical revue celebrating the truths and myths of relationships. The Opening Night Gala will conclude with a dessert reception with the Papermill Theatre cast and crew following the performance.

The Papermill Theatre’s second Mainstage show, Almost, Maine, will open on Thursday, July 21. The off-Broadway play has been widely praised for its smart, funny take on life and love in the small, mythical town in far northern Maine. Almost, Maine will inventively explore the mysteries of the human heart, touching audiences with laughter, heartbreak and hope.

Rounding out the Papermill Theatre’s Mainstage season will be RENT, opening on Thursday, July 28. Jonathan Larson’s Broadway musical is loosely based on Puccini’s opera, La Boheme, and follows a year in the lives of seven friends struggling to live and pay their rent in New York’s East Village. “Measuring their lives in love,” these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness, and the AIDS epidemic. One of the longest running shows on Broadway, RENT was the winner of the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and four Tony Awards.

The Children’s Theatre company, celebrating its 26th anniversary, will delight audiences with eight original adaptations of well-known folk and fairy tales, including The Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea, Beauty and the Beast, and Cinderella. In addition to Wednesday and Saturday morning performances at the Governor’s Lodge at Loon, the Children’s Theatre company will perform each week in communities throughout New Hampshire. Shows appeal to adults and children ages three and up, and last approximately thirty minutes with a cast meet and greet following each performance.

All three Mainstage shows will run in repertory for the summer season, with the final performance on Saturday, August 27. Tickets to the Opening Night Gala, Children’s Theatre and Mainstage shows are now available and can be purchased online at www.papermilltheatre.org or by calling (603) 745-2141.