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In a town where theater venues seem almost
as ubiquitous as high-rises, launching a new one might seem
like putting up yet still another Perkins restaurant.
But Kristen Coury sees a hole in the cultural fabric of Southwest
Florida: in an area that encompasses nearly 3,000 square miles
and a population pushing 1 million in Collier and Lee counties
alone (according to the U.S. Census Bureau), there's only
one professional regional theater to serve all those residents
and visitors.
She hopes to change all that with plans for the Gulfshore
Playhouse, a proposed 550-seat LORT (League of Resident Theatres)
theater that will produce hits from Broadway and off-Broadway;
comedies and dramas; musicals and classics, with professional
Equity actors and directors from all over the country.
The theater is still in the planning and fund-raising stages,
but in a relatively short period of time, Coury's come far.
She first came to the area from Manhattan in January of 2004
"and decided it was paradise," she says.
Coury's career path had always been in the arts. Her wide-ranging
résumé of experience includes marketing and
PR with the English Shakespeare Company in London, international
production coordination with Walt Disney Theatrical Productions
in New York, and assistant company manager for Andrew Lloyd
Weber's Really Useful Group Ltd. for Broadway and national
touring shows.
When she relocated to Naples, she feared she'd have to abandon
her lifelong calling and find new employment. "But I
saw that wasn't possible, because theater is really my passion,"
she relates with a laugh.
So she looked for niches to fill in the already active Southwest
Florida cultural scene, and quickly noticed that only downtown
Fort Myers's Florida Rep was presenting self-produced professional
theater in the area. "South of Florida Rep, there's nothing
like that," Coury states, so she hatched the idea for
the Gulfshore Playhouse.
At the time, she thought it would be easy to find a building
to house her fledgling theater company, since in Manhattan
there's practically a theater facility on every street corner.
"Coming from New York, that was my one innocent point,"
she jokes. "We very quickly went from plan A to plan
Z, which was build a theater." That shot overhead costs
through the roof — plans for the facility drawn up by
architects Westlake Reed Leskosky have costs running around
$22 to $27 million — but Coury and her board still weren't
daunted.
Land for the 33,000-square foot theater — which will
include a 550-seat mainstage, a 150-seat black box studio,
rehearsal space, offices, dressing rooms, a "Learning
Institute" for classes, and design shops — was
donated by the D'Jamoos Group, Ltd., in their proposed Estero
on the River complex, contingent on meeting zoning requirements.
Located at Corkscrew Road and Highway 41, Estero on the River
will be a mixed-use development serving Lee and Collier county
residents, with the Gulfshore Playhouse as "a little
jewel in the middle of this European walking village,"
as Coury describes it.
The next step was fund-raising, and the Playhouse board's
first effort made a splash: Coury contacted Carol Channing
"because she's so passionate about live theater,"
and arranged to bring the diva legend into town for an intimate
evening with donating patrons.
The Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend-themed event was held
January 12 at a grand model home in Mediterra, and included
a jewelry sale, private dinner, and a very intimate concert
by Channing, who took over the grand staircase and started
belting out tunes.
"That was priceless — being ten feet away from
a living legend and having her pull out all the stops was
incredible," Coury says.
The event raised about $15,000 — a beginning, but a
small one considering the proposed budget. So Coury and company
have more such fund-raisers planned for the future, the next
of which is "An Evening with Anna Maria Alberghetti,"
with the Tony-award winning actress/singer performing an intimate
concert with piano, bass and drums as part of Gulfshore Playhouse's
"Concert Gala 2006" at Quail West Golf and Country
Club in Bonita Springs on Friday, April 7.
The $250 ticket includes cocktails and "heavy hors d'oeuvres,"
Alberghetti's private concert and a meet-and-greet afterward,
and the unveiling of the architectural plans for the Gulfshore
Playhouse building.
Meanwhile, the Playhouse board — whose members include
WGCU producer/director Joel Banow; Joe D'Jamoos of the D'Jamoos
Group; and Alessandra Higgs, "philanthropic woman-about-town,"
as Coury describes her — is continuing to solicit sponsors,
donors, and other support for their theater.
They're also finding ways to get into the community eye and
become part of the area they're hoping to serve. That includes
launching their Learning Institute in area schools, offering
classes in all aspects of theater performance and production
to help fill the gaps in the public school system's arts programs.
It also includes the "Florida Stories" writing contest,
begun last year, in which locals of all ages submit their
poems, monologues, or short scenes based on "a meaningful
Florida experience," as Coury describes it, and winners
are presented as staged readings by professional actors.
Last year's event received nearly 50 entries, and Coury is
hoping for even more participation this year in what she calls
"a community giveback." This year's deadline for
entries is March 15, and the event will be held April 25 at
the Norris Center in Naples, all part of Coury's drive to
"continue to show people what we've got," she says.
"I believe that our community, or any community for that
matter, can always benefit from an increase in the arts,"
she adds. "Creating a regional theater here will add
another colorful thread to the already vibrant fabric of life
in Southwest Florida."
For more information about events, contest entries, donations,
and sponsorships, visit the theater's Web site at www.gulfshoreplayhouse.org,
or call 398-3143.
© 2006 Naples Daily News and NDN Productions. Published
in Naples, Florida, USA by the E.W. Scripps Co.
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