His own ‘Golden Pond’

“After a while, on balance it seemed ridiculous for me not to do my own production.’’

So this summer, Thompson is staging what he calls “the definitive production’’ of “On Golden Pond’’ at the tiny Little Church Theater (an actual former community church) not far from his current home base by Squam Lake.

For the first time, Thompson is directing his own play with professional actors in a theatrical setting.

Thompson said he has not been displeased with other presentations of it, but every playwright longs to “put your own spin on your own play.’’

It’s been 30 years since the movie “On Golden Pond’’ - set in Maine but filmed near Squam Lake, and featuring Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, and Jane Fonda - won three Academy Awards, including one for Thompson’s screenplay. Since that time, the writer-actor has worked on many projects, including several different productions of his play. (“Another Summer,’’ a musical version directed by Thompson, was staged by the Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth, N.H., in 1997.)

The script for the latest show, which Thompson admits to tinkering with over the years, is cleared of some of the more visual movie scenes. For instance, the boating accident involving the lead character, college professor Norman Thayer (played by Frank T. Wells) is gone. So is the incident when Thayer’s adult daughter Chelsea (Lori Gigliotti Murphy) attempts to win her father’s approval with a tricky dive into the lake water. (The Fondas played those roles in the film; Henry Fonda and Hepburn won best actor and best actress Oscars.)

Even the line spoken to her husband by Ethel Thayer (played by Vinette Cotter), and named one of the most memorable movie quips of all time, is gone: “Listen to me, mister. You’re my knight in shining armor.’’ It wasn’t in the original play; Thompson says he added it after Hepburn asked for some more dialogue to help her with the scene.