Joel Markus

is
thrilled to be in his eighth season
as Gulfshore Playhouse’s COO &
Managing Director. Joel enjoys
working side by side with Kristen to
produce Broadway caliber theatre
while focusing on cultivating a
great staff and culture. In his time
at Gulfshore Playhouse, Joel has
helped grow and quadruple the
theatre’s budget, triple the staff,
has co-managed the design and
construction of the new $75M Baker
Theatre and Education Center,
the production shop construction
project, has been instrumental
in joining LORT (most recently,
being on the negotiating committee
for LORT and Actors’ Equity
Association), and navigated and
guided the organization through the
pandemic and Hurricane Ian. Joel
was recognized as one of the top
COOs in SWFL by the Community
Foundation. Joel’s thirty year career
has taken him to some of our nation’s
leading professional regional theatres.
He most recently spent seven seasons
at America’s oldest theatre, Walnut
Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Joel
has played integral roles in the
production of hundreds of plays
over ten seasons at the Indiana
Repertory Theatre, four years at Geva
Theatre Center in Rochester, NY, five
summers at the Weston Playhouse in
Vermont, American Players Theatre
in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and
North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly,
Massachusetts. Joel is a graduate of
Indiana University and originally from
Miami, Florida.