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A Naples developer intends to
give a nod to the Koreshans with its planned Estero on the
River development at the northeast corner of U.S. 41 and Corkscrew
Road.
The D'Jamoos Group has teamed up with a theater
director to open Gulfshore Playhouse, a 35,000-square-foot
theater in the heart of the 85-acre residential and commercial
project in Estero.
The Koreshans were a religious utopian cult
that came to Southwest Florida in the 1800s and built a self-sufficient
colony rich in the arts. History buffs have long protested
any kind of development on the Koreshan land, which is where
The D'Jamoos Group plans to build Estero on the River.
The Gulfshore Playhouse, a nearly 500-seat
theater, is the brainchild of theater director Kristen Coury.
The D'Jamoos Group has pledged to donate the land for the
regional theater, which will feature a mixture of traditional
and new age plays, Broadway and off-Broadway shows and family-oriented
entertainment.
"We're taking what the Koreshans had,
and what the people need, and trying to combine it into one,"
said Joe D'Jamoos, president of The D'Jamoos Group.
The development company plans to meet with
the Lee County Department of Community Development this week
to iron out details for the Estero on the River rezoning request,
D'Jamoos said.
If the project is approved by all of the county
levels, including county commissioners, The D'Jamoos Group
will take ownership of the land. D'Jamoos said he hopes to
break ground on the project by this time next year. The Gulfshore
Playhouse could be up and running by as early as 2007 if everything
goes smoothly, he said.
"When we went under contract with this
property, we wanted to make this a village with a cultural
center," he said.
A theater seemed the natural choice because
residents of south Lee County have to travel to the Barbara
B. Mann Theater in Fort Myers, the Philharmonic Center for
the Arts in Naples or the productions at Florida Gulf Coast
University to see a performance, he said.
"Basically, we wanted to have an environment
for the Estero people. We saw there was very little culture.
People have to jump in the car and travel," he said.
Coury had the same idea when she came to Naples
after directing productions in New York and London and the
independent film, "Friends and Family."
The Gulfshore Playhouse will feature a 499-seat
main stage theater with a 125-seat studio theater, rehearsal
space, office, dressing rooms and design shops. The goal is
to have five shows per year on the main stage and more experimental
and cabaret shows in the studio theater, she said. There will
also be shows for underprivileged children at extremely discounted
prices, she said.
"All of it will be geared toward helping
(children) appreciate live and living art, like theater is,
as opposed to television and reality TV, with hopes of helping
them understand their own imaginations," she said.
Building the Gulfshore Playhouse is the fifth
step in Coury's five-year plan, she said, but she bumped it
up to No. 2 after D'Jamoos offered to donate land for her
theater. Now, she needs money.
Gulfshore Playhouse plans to launch a capital
campaign over the next year to get the $15 million needed
to build and operate the theater for at least the first year,
she said.
A golf tournament is planned for Nov. 7 at
the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort at Tiburon in North Naples; a
jewelry sale called Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, with
movie and Broadway star Carol Channing as hostess, is set
for Jan. 12; and a concert with about 10 Broadway stars, called
Night of a Thousand Stars, is scheduled for April 6, Coury
said.
Local residents are also hosting fundraising
cocktail parties throughout the year, she said.
"I think there's a lot of money in this
region, and I think there is definitely a place for the arts
to grow, and I think people agree," she said.
Copyright 2005, Naples Daily News. All Rights
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