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A legendary stage actress will join fundraising
efforts to build a regional playhouse in Estero.
Carol Channing, 84, will be on hand Thursday evening to perform
at a dinner and reception at the Montserrat home in Mediterra
in north Collier County. The event is one of several planned
to help raise enough money to build a $20 million regional
playhouse in south Lee County.
Channing said she agreed to participate in the event as part
of her ongoing efforts to promote and help raise money for
regional playhouses across the country. Live theater is unlike
most entertainment, said Channing, who is best known for her
30-year stint performing Broadway's "Hello Dolly!,"
a role that earned her a Tony Award in 1964.
"If you're in the same room with a human being it's quite
different than an electronic or a television," said Channing,
who traveled to Southwest Florida from her home in Modesto,
Calif. "I believe in this thing very much, this Gulfshore
Playhouse."
Channing's visit has been in the works for months, said Kristen
Coury, founder and artistic director of the Gulfshore Playhouse.
The event is one of several fundraisers to be carried out
this year as Coury spearheads the effort to raise the money
that will build the 499-seat regional theater in a proposed
85-acre residential and commercial development at the corner
of Corkscrew Road and U.S. 41. Design work and costs to operate
the theater through its first year will bring the total project
to $20 million.
Channing traveled to Florida earlier this week and also performed
Tuesday evening at the Indian River Community College campus
in Fort Pierce.
"I do believe the younger generation should be more exposed
to the arts," Channing said. "There's only one way
I can help them and it is with theaters."
Tickets priced at $125 to attend a cocktail and dessert reception
with Channing are still available. Tickets priced at $300
or $500 per couple to attend a dinner with Channing were capped
at 30, Coury said. "We want to maintain what we promised,
a small intimate dinner with a star," said Kristen Coury,
founder and artistic director of the Gulfshore Playhouse.
"We don't want it to grow too large."
The theater will also raise money through a jewelry sale sponsored
by the Kazanjian Foundation, a charitable group who gathers
jewelry and fine collectibles donations. The theater will
keep 30 percent of the jewelry sales at the event, Coury said.
For more information about the event Kristen Coury can be
reached at (239) 398-3143.
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