Gulfshore Playhouse buys land to build its new theater site

Gulfshore Playhouse has closed on a 3-acre parcel of land at the corner of First Avenue South and Goodlette-Frank Road for its own 400-seat theater, which will allow it to ramp up its production of new works and add large-cast musicals, according to an announcement late Tuesday.

The land, at the northern end of The Shoppes at Naples Square, cost $5.15 million. The purchase was made possible by a $10 million gift from philanthropists Jay and Patty Baker.

While its staff and supporters are raising funds now, the theater will inaugurate an approximately $45 million capital campaign — Kristen Coury, founder and producing artistic director, called that a "working number" — beginning in January. 

More: Gulfshore Playhouse plans to build state-of-the-art theater and education complex

The proposed complex would include two theatrical spaces, including the main hall and a 150-seat black box theater, an education wing, a garden and a lobby with an atrium café. Currently the theater uses the Norris Community Center at 755 Eighth Ave. S., with slightly more than 200 seats, for its productions. 

The Gulfshore Playhouse plans would bring a fourth facility that offers musical productions to Naples. Until last season, when Gulfshore Playhouse scheduled "My Fair Lady," it had not staged a musical since 2007.  

TheatreZone, a 250-seat Equity theater, offers niche musicals such as "Into the Woods" and "Hair" on the campus of The Community School of Naples in North Naples. Artis—Naples, the 1,400-plus seat venue on Pelican Bay Boulevard, fields a season of touring productions such as "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" and "The Book of Mormon."

Sugden Community Theatre, home of the community-based Naples Players at 701 Fifth Ave. S., is four blocks away from the planned Gulfshore Playhouse theater. It stages three musicals a year, with fare ranging from "The Rocky Horror Show" to "The Music Man," which is planned for this season in its 325-seat Blackburn Hall. 

Coury emphasized a difference in orientation between Gulfshore Playhouse and Naples Players. 

 "We have professionals. We have  Broadway actors. Furthermore, we will be working with out-of-town tryouts," she said. "We’ll probably do everything from a revival of '42nd Street' to serving as an incubator for Broadway. The next 'Dear Evan Hansen' or 'Jersey Boys' could begin here."

Coury was speaking about the practice of companies producing a full musical in a theater away from New York to test its readiness and audience appeal. With legacy musicals, however, the two already have duplicated offerings; the same year Gulfshore Playhouse produced "My Fair Lady," Naples Players had the same musical on its schedule. That time, the musicals were separated by a span of four months.

"We have 65 years behind us and have 65 more ahead of us," said Bryce Alexander, artistic director of The Naples Players. He said there was "definitely room for two theaters. The city, that is, its people, will decide for us how it is. They'll help us decide where each organization fits in.

"We’ve been very open to helping Gulfshore Playhouse in past and know we will in the future. Arts begets art," he said.

The Naples Players celebrates its 65th anniversary next year and will be doing its own fundraising to redo dressing rooms, the "green rooms" where actors wait to go onstage, said John Sorey, executive director. The organization is also looking for offsite space to expand KidzAct, its youth theater classes and productions.

"The great thing is that the KidzAct function has been so successful that we’ve outgrown our space," he said. 

More:Review: Endearing characters lead in Gulfshore Playhouse's comedic 'Leading Ladies'