PAPA History

The Portsmouth Academy of Performing Arts was founded in 1985 by Eileen and Roy Rogosin of Los Angeles, who moved to the Seacoast to start a performance school and company. They established PAPA in the Button factory on Islington street. In 1986 they took up residency in a late 19th century brewery warehouse on Portsmouth’s historic Bow Street that housed the Theatre by the Sea, converted into theatre space by Joseph Sawtelle and the Bow Street Theatre Trust in an effort to improve the culture and economy of Portsmouth. In 1988 it became the Seacoast Repertory Theatre.