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10/10/2006
There's a new thespian group in town, bringing Broadway to Naples
and theater to both Lee and Collier County schools. It's the
Gulfshore Playhouse, premiering with the acclaimed Oleanna,
Oct. 19 at the Norris Center in Naples - with Tony award-nominated
Broadway actor Alan Campbell in the lead.
Best known to Broadway audiences for his lengthy stint as the
ill-fated Joe Gillis in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard,
Campbell has played opposite such heavy-hitting leading ladies
as Glenn Close and Betty Buckley. "He's done Broadway,
film, television, is incredibly talented and received a Tony
nomination for Sunset Boulevard," said Kristen Coury, Founder
and Producing Artistic Director of the Playhouse.
Coury is pretty impressive herself. What is her background?
"Theater, theater, and more theater," she said. "My
degree is in theater and my first job was in the marketing department
of the English Shakespeare Company in London. Then I went to
New York and worked for big theatrical conglomerations, like
Disney Theatrical and Andrew Lloyd Webber."
"She's the real deal," said Irene Horowitz, who was
recently named Director of Educational Outreach for the Playhouse.
Horowitz is currently teaching creative dramatics at the Art
League of Marco Island and has been involved with theater for
many years.
The Gulfshore Playhouse was started two years ago, but it hasn't
been able to put on local productions. "There simply wasn't
any theater available," explained Coury. They finally got
the Norris Center space for this production. Coury is a transplanted
New Yorker. She explained how she came to settle in Naples.
"Fully by accident. I drove in, found paradise, sold my
New York apartment and moved to Florida." She started the
playhouse to bring quality productions and talent to the area,
she said.
In several years, the group will have its own new space in Estero.
The group is about to launch a capital campaign to build a new
state-of-the-art professional regional theatre in an urban-style
"village" called Estero on the River, at U.S. 41 and
Corkscrew Road.
"We are delighted that the community has embraced our dream
to build a Professional Regional Theatre presenting a full season
of new works, classics, musicals and dramas," Coury said,
"as well as after-school programs and family fare serving
Southern Lee and Collier Counties."
The Playhouse is now working on its mission to provide high-quality
in-school arts education for Southwest Florida. It hired Horowitz,
a former educator and outreach expert from the Northeast, to
undertake an "Educational Outreach Assessment." She
spent months talking to the Boards of Education of both Lee
and Collier Counties, followed by principals and individual
teachers. She shared the Playhouse vision of having a collaborative
artistic experience, where the Playhouse could conceivably provide
a wide range of in-school residencies, from theatrical writing,
acting, "improv" and dance, to dressing an actor up
like a specific character from history to help with a social
studies class. "The schools reacted very enthusiastically,"
said Horowitz.
Fund raising is also important. "A generous donation from
the Fifth Third Bank Professional Tennis Tournament at Shadowwood
and a generous $10,000 grant by Wachovia Corporation are providing
the founding dollars necessary to commence our initiative and
have programs in the schools as early as Spring, 2007,"
said Coury.
Of Oleanna, Horowitz commented: "A playwright like Mamet
coming here is very exciting. As far as you know he hasn't been
done here before on a professional level."
Written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning David Mamet, (author of
the play Glengarry Glen Ross and films Wag the Dog and Hoffa),
Oleanna is described as an edge-of-your-seat drama covering
the themes of power, manipulation, spin and human perception.
Oleanna will run Oct. 19 through Oct. 22 at the Norris Center
in Naples. Tickets are $35 and $25 (senior discount for those
over 70.) For more information call 213-3058.
The show also runs Oct. 16 and 17 at The Lab Theatre at Florida
Gulf Coast University. Tickets are $35; $20 for FGCU Students.
Call 566-8394 for tickets at FGCU.©Naples Sun Times 200 |
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9130 Galleria Court, Suite 103, Naples, Florida 34109
Administrative Offices (239) 566-8394. TICKETS: 866-811-4111
Office space generously donated by The D'Jamoos Group,
Ltd.
all rights reserved. ©2007
Gulfshore Playhouse, Inc. is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation and tax-exempt
under section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) of the IRS code. As a result, your contribution
is
tax-deductible to the extent of the law, provided no goods are exchanged.
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