All the stage is his world

Jeff Zinn knows exactly how lucky he is. Before he launches into an animated description of the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater's new home on Route 6, he notes how seldom an artistic director can dictate the kind of space he wants to use.

"It's very rare that you get to build a theater -- that's only a theater -- from scratch, on a bare piece of land," Zinn says. "It's a unique opportunity to design the theater that I want to work in, and then watch it come into being."

That process is still under way; WHAT's new Julie Harris Stage won't officially open until June 21, with three days of gala performances of "The Clean House," and for now Zinn gives only hard-hat tours. But the theater in his mind is starting to exist in wood and concrete, and he's palpably excited by the metamorphosis.

The stage, he says, is "almost Broadway size," with the capacity to have traps open from below and to "fly" scenic elements from above. That large performing space, though, faces a house of just 200 seats, so Zinn says that "when you stand onstage, it's a very intimate space, from the actor's perspective."

The public spaces have "a lot of bells and whistles," he says, including assisted-listening devices, a liquor license, and even an elevator. That last item brings a small chuckle -- the building is only two stories tall -- but Zinn notes that it's required by building codes.

Ah, yes, code compliance. That's one of the downsides of building your dream theater from scratch: An older building may get its deficiencies and quirks grandfathered in, but when you're starting with a blank slate, you have to fulfill every requirement.

WHAT has to meet especially high standards, Zinn says, because some of its funding comes through a federal source -- and one that you don't usually think of as a patron of the arts.

"You know that USDA stamp they put on meat?" Zinn jokes. "I imagine that on the side of the building, in letters 4 feet tall."

The USDA, as in United States Department of Agriculture? Yes -- under a program that gives low-interest, long-term loans for the development of cultural facilities in rural areas. The designation of Cape Cod as a "rural area" has provoked derision in some quarters, most recently in a Washington Post editorial, but Zinn is firm on this point.

"Yes, this is a resort," he says, but he also cites the familiar image of "two Cape Cods" -- one rich, and one definitely not. "Seven or eight months of the year, this is a low-income, underserved community." That's one reason the Julie Harris Stage will present theater and other programs year- round, not just when the summer people feel like catching a play. (After the monthlong run of "The Clean House," the Harris season continues with "Hunter Gatherers," "American Buffalo," and "Love Song." )

As for the endearingly ramshackle structure on the harbor that is WHAT's original home, Zinn emphasizes that it will continue to figure importantly in the theater's programming. "One of the things that was really important to me, with all the emphasis on the new space, was to send the message that our old space was as vital and in as good hands as always," he says. "Let's face it: The reason we've been able to build this new space was because of what we've done in the old space."

So while he talks excitedly of an onstage balcony, moveable walls, maybe even a turntable at the Julie Harris, Zinn also gets animated about the Harbor Stage offerings, from "Mojo" -- "the kind of high-octane, high-energy play that we're known for" -- to the new WHAT bar , a series of "theater jams" on Mondays and Tuesdays featuring music, cabaret, and even "puppet theater for grownups" in a repurposed greenroom.

For both venues, Zinn says, his mission in this ambitious 10-show season remains the same.

"I don't go theme-driven," he says. "To me, it's really just about good stuff. And then I try not to repeat myself."

Louise Kennedy can be reached at kennedy@globe.com.

(Correction: Because of a reporting error, the Summer Arts Preview listings in the May 20 Arts & Entertainment section gave an incorrect Web address for a summer concert series at First Congregational Church in Wellfleet. The address is wellfleetcongochurch.homestead.com.)