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Plans for a regional playhouse
in the proposed Estero on the River development will be backed
by a hefty donation from the College of Life Foundation, the
nonprofit organization currently in negotiations to sell the
Koreshan land to a Naples-based developer.
The $250,000 pledge is the first major donation to the $20
million campaign to build the Gulfshore Playhouse on the proposed
85-acre residential and commercial development at the corner
of Corkscrew Road and U.S. 41.
Charles Dauray, chairman and CEO of the College of Life Foundation,
made the announcement Thursday at a meeting of the Estero
Historical Society.
Dauray called on members of the historical society to support
plans to build the regional theater on land that once belonged
to the Koreshans, a religious utopian community that settled
in southern Lee County in the 1800s. The theater will feature
a mixture of traditional and new age plays, Broadway and off-Broadway
shows and family-oriented entertainment.
"I can only hope you'll support the formation of this,"
Dauray said. "It's difficult to get those first donations
going. There's no sound as loud as the sound of an empty tin
cup."
The D'Jamoos Group, developers of the Estero on the River
project, has agreed to donate land for the 35,000-square-foot
theater.
Kristen Coury, founder and artistic director of the Gulfshore
Playhouse, is spearheading the effort to raise the $15 million
that will build the 499-seat theater. Design work and costs
to operate the theater through its first year will bring the
total project to $20 million.
Coury told the historical society that once the theater is
built Estero residents will no longer have to travel to the
Barbara B. Mann Theater in Fort Myers or the Philharmonic
Center for the Arts in Naples to see a live theater performance.
"I think we are in a very exciting moment in the history
of Estero," Coury said.
While Estero Historical Society members agreed to back the
plan to bring a regional playhouse to the area, society president
Mary Ann Weenen said she isn't sure if that support will play
out in monetary value.
The society has to come up with $200,000 of its own as it
prepares to move to the new Estero Community Park in January,
Weenen said. The society recently paid $6,800 to remove lead
paint from the two historic buildings that will serve as its
future headquarters.
"Right now we still have to figure out how much money
we need," Weenen said.
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