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L ike many who visit Naples for the first time, Kristen Coury
was immediately smitten. So a little less than a year ago,
she came to stay, leaving behind a thriving theater and film
career in New York City. “I was prepared to give it up
and open an art gallery,” she says. “But then I
realized there’s a very obvious niche between the Phil
and the Sugden.”
Coury, 36, plans to fill that niche with the
Gulfshore Playhouse, a professional regional theater that
will mount important new works alongside a more classic mix
of everything from Shakespeare to children’s fare. But
first she must raise the $20 million needed to build a new
space—and that, she predicts, will take two years.
In the meantime, Coury is making an impression
on potential donors with her fund raisers and benefit shows
featuring veteran Broadway talent. Back in New York, she worked
for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production company and Walt
Disney Theatrical Productions; she also directed the 2001
feature film Friends and Family. But starting a theater from
scratch may be her biggest challenge yet. “It is more
complicated to do things in a seasonal town,” she admits.
“But the demographic of Naples is changing, and the seasons
are getting shorter—or longer, depending on how you look
at it.”
—Hobart Rowland
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Newcomers
and newsmakers
