Portsmouth New Hampshire Entertainment & Events

Special Events

• Vintage Christmas
  Vintage Christmas events will take place the entire month of December. Enjoy the holiday strolls, shows, and stayovers with the complimentary Vintage Christmas Trolley to make getting there even easier. There will be a Pop Up Market, Market Square Carolers, Candlelight Stroll, and live holiday shows, opera broadcasts & films in The Music Hall. Listed as "one of the Top 100 Events in North America," (ABA) and one of the "Top 10 Things Not to Miss in New England," by the Boston Globe. more...
  Sponsored By: The Music Hall + Strawbery Banke Museum

Cinema

• New Hampshire Film Festival
  Various Downtown Venues
  603-647-6439
  The New Hampshire Film Festival is not only a great place to experience fantastic films, its location of Portsmouth, NH, is a lovely destination.  more...

Concerts & Performances

• Prescott Park Arts Festival
  105 Marcy Street • Portsmouth, NH 03802
  603-436-2848
  Located on 3.5 acres in downtown Portsmouth, the arts festival has a long and rich history of successfully presenting music, theater and dance on the banks of the Piscataqua River with no fixed admission, though they do welcome donations. Because of this policy, many people have their first experience with a live performance at Prescott Park. Variety is truly the spice of life at the arts festival where classical ballet is presented right alongside rock n' roll. more...

Plays & Productions

• Ballet New England's Center For Dance Education
  135 Daniel Street • Portsmouth, NH 03801
  603-430-9309
  New Hampshire's premier ballot company is known for bringing audiences Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, as well as a variety of other performances. The Center for Dance Education, the official school of Ballet New England, offers classes in all levels of classical ballet, pointe and pas de deux, as well as creative dance, pre-ballet, jazz, tap, modern, flamenco, pilates, and hip hop for students from pre-school to adult. more...

• Music Hall, The
  28 Chestnut Street • Portsmouth, NH 03801
  603-436-2400 (Box Office)
  The Music Hall is an educational and charitable organization presenting live and cinematic arts in a landmark 900-seat opera house. Classic and new films are also shown at the Music Hall. The building has housed several theaters since its opening in 1878. more...

• New Hampshire Theatre Project
  959 Islington Street • Portsmouth, NH 03801
  West End Studio Theatre
  603-431-6644
  Located in a 50-seat black box theater, they offer classes for adults and children, public performances, and community education with professional theatre artists. more...

• Pontine Theatre
  959 Islington Street • Portsmouth, NH 03801
  603-436-6660
  Intimate 50 seat theater. Offering original productions based on New England literature and history. Featuring masks, puppetry, and storytelling. more...

• Seacoast Repertory Theatre
  125 Bow Street • Portsmouth, NH 03801
  603-443-4472
  Voted the best year-round theatre on the seacoast. A non-profit performing arts and educational organization offering a complete schedule of award-winning musicals and plays as well as youth productions. more...

• Artists' Collaborative Theatre Of New England
  959 Islington Street • Portsmouth, NH 03801
  West End Studio Theatre
  603-300-2986
  ACT ONE presents its annual Festival of Fun with comedy, concerts, and captivating storytelling at the West End Studio Theatre.  more...

Festivals & Fairs

• Moffatt-Ladd House Piscataqua Waterfront Festival
  154 Market Street • Portsmouth, NH 03801
  603-430-7968
  Celebrate Portsmouth Harbor and Great Bay at the third annual Piscataqua Waterfront Festival, a free family event. The festival features music, traditional maritime artisan demonstrations, free museum tours, hands-on children's activities, boats, booths, displays by area businesses & non-profit organizations, and a sale of heirloom plants from the Moffatt-Ladd garden. The festival is designed to heighten awareness of their maritime history, contemporary water quality issues, boat building heritage & opportunities, marine management, water recreation, and conservation. Followed by a free concert in the Moffatt-Ladd Warehouse by Mudhook at 4:15. more...

• JazzMouth - The Seacoast Poetry & Jazz Festival
  Locations Throughout Portsmouth
  The Jazzmouth Poetry & Jazz Festival is a one-of-a-kind, four-day festival celebrating poetry and jazz and the relationship between them. It is an exciting, all-inclusive community festival with events ranging from films to workshops, from musical performances to poetry readings and even both at once.  more...

• Market Square Day Festival & 10K Road Race [Saturday, Jun. 8, 2013]
  Market Square Day takes place on the second Saturday in June each year.  more...

• Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival [Saturday, Sep. 28, 2013]
  Market Square
  603-942-7604
  The Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival presents traditional American and English folk music. As in years past, the annual festival will be held at venues in downtown Portsmouth's Market Square area, including the Press Room, 77 Daniel St, and the Portsmouth Athenaeum, 9 Market Square. The festival is held on the last weekend in September, with free events both Saturday and Sunday.  more...

Parades

• Illuminated Holiday Parade & Tree Lighting
  603-610-7281
  The Tree Lighting ceremony begins at 5 p.m. in Market Square with music from the Portsmouth Middle School Band, concluding at 5:30 p.m. with the official tree lighting. The Holiday Parade begins at 6 p.m. from Plaza 800 and travels a route through downtown to the South Mill Pond parking lot. more...

Tours

• Portsmouth Historic House Association
  8 Historic Houses in Portsmouth
  603-436-8420
  Back by popular demand. The Portsmouth Historic House Association is sponsoring a twilight tour of many of your favorite historic house museums in Portsmouth. Along the way you will be entertained by music furnished by students and teachers from the Portsmouth Music and Arts Academy and enjoy refreshments historic and modern. As the dusk approaches, you will be able to see how people might have experienced living by candlelight (electric in our case) and you will hear Portsmouth stories about those long gone. more...

• New England Curiosities Walking Tours
  These tours and events run from October through mid-November. New England Curiousities has been offering tours and special haunted events since 2002. Led by Roxie Zwicker, author & historian, you will explore tales of folklore, ghosts and mysterious history.  more...