Gulfshore Playhouse Announces a $100,000 Donation from Patty & Jay Baker to the Annual Campaign

Gulfshore Playhouse has announced they have received a $100,000 donation last week from Patty and Jay Baker, local philanthropists and supporters of the Arts.

Starting with the New Works Festival in August, Patty and Jay Baker will be referred to as the Season Benefactors for the entirety of the 2013-2014 season. Their generous donation will help Gulfshore Playhouse continue to bring high-quality professional theatre at affordable prices as well as unique educational opportunities to Southwest Florida.

"We like to feather where we nest. We believe in Naples, and we believe that Naples needs a great professional regional theatre. We have watched the non-Equity Community Theatre, The Naples Players, grow over the years and are excited to watch Gulfshore Playhouse, an equity theatre, expand as well. We are proud to acknowledge its growth with the contribution," says Patty Baker.

"I am extremely grateful to Patty and Jay Baker for their belief in what we do. It is so gratifying to know there are such wonderful people here who value live theater and how it can affect change for the better by opening the hearts, stirring the souls and broadening the horizons. I thank Patty and Jay heartily for their support, not only of Gulfshore Playhouse, but of so many of the not-for-profits in Naples and around the country. Naples is a better community in every way because they are in it," says Kristen Coury, Founder and Producing Artistic Director.

Patty and Jay Baker have supported the Arts around America in a variety of ways such as naming The Patty and Jay Baker Theatre Complex at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, one of the Nation's finest Regional Theatres, and locally with the Patty and Jay Baker Naples Museum of Art. Jay is the retired president of Kohl's Corp. Patty has produced several Broadway hits, most recently Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Glengarry Glen Ross, as well as Death of a Salesman, Legally Blonde The Musical, All My Sons, Blithe Spirit, The Miracle Worker and the Tony-Award winning musical Memphis.

Gulfshore Playhouse has announced its 2013-2014 season with six diverse productions, including a World Premiere! the First Annual New Works Festival will be August 12-17, with performances August 16 & 17. Venus in Fur by David Ives, the sexiest, funniest, most acclaimed new play straight from Broadway, will play in early October. The season also includes: Something Intangible, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, the World Premiere drama The God Game in association with Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, New York, Ken Ludwig's The Game's Afoot and the Arthur Miller classic All My Sons. Subscriptions and single tickets are available now by visiting the website at www.gulfshoreplayhouse.org or calling the box office at 1-866-811-4111.

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