As had been the case so often in the past, the path was not to be an easy one. James Shaw Grant at the 1975 AGM of the Society is minuted as saying,

'I cannot gloss over Pitlochry’s fundamental problem which, regrettably, still remains the replacement of its now superannuated theatre building -however charming it may still look. All I can say today is that the Governors have waited as long as they dared to secure a site offered to them but for which planning clearance is subject to a decision being made on the line of the proposed Pitlochry by-pass. We have now waited for three years, time has run out and inflation has torn into our carefully prepared plans'.

In fact some 14 sites had either been considered or looked at out of desperation before a start was made on this site at Port-na-Craig, where the foundation stone was laid in September ‘79 by Lord Home of the Hirsel. The new theatre's opening performance of Storm in a Teacup was given on the 19th of May 1981, the 30th anniversary of the very first performance in John Stewart’s tent.