Kristen Coury

Kristen Coury is the Founder, CEO and Producing Artistic Director of Gulfshore Playhouse. She
founded the Playhouse in 2004, and shortly thereafter started producing with no staff and very
little funding. Under her leadership, the Playhouse has grown to a staff over 80 people, an
annual budget of $11.8M with no debt, and led the charge to create a $72M state-of-the-art
Theatre and Education Center at the gateway to downtown Naples, which will be open to the
public in late 2024. As part of this project, Coury ignited a public/private partnership with the City
of Naples, donating an acre of land upon which to build a public parking garage.

While in New York, she worked on Broadway for Walt Disney Theatrical’s production of Beauty
and the Beast, both nationally and internationally, and for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company, The
Really Useful Group, working on Sunset Boulevard and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat.

Kristen made her feature film directorial debut with Friends and Family, a comedy starring Tony
Lo Bianco, Anna Maria Alberghetti, and Tovah Feldshuh, which was released around the US
and Europe. Kristen has directed several new works, produced a CD, and worked on a variety
of musicals in various stages of development. Kristen is also a frequent investor in Broadway
productions, most recently The Neil Diamond Musical: A Beautiful Noise. Kristen has directed
over 40 productions for the Playhouse. Including a ten person, 2 piano My Fair Lady, world
premieres, the world premiere of The God Game by Suzanne Bradbeer and The Butcher by
Gwydion Suilebhan. She directed the final professional production in the Norris Center, the
musical She Loves Me, and the inaugural show in the Baker Theatre and Education Center, Anything Goes.

Kristen was named one of the “Top 40 Professionals Under 40” by Gulfshore Life Magazine in
2008, a “Star in the Arts” by the United Arts Council of Collier County in 2011, and was named
one of the Men and Women of the Year by Gulfshore Life in 2013 and again in 2024. She also
received the Murray Hendel Award for Civic Achievement in 2023. She served two terms on the
board of Theatre Communications Group, the national advocacy group for professional theatre.
She is a member of the board of the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce, and was named
one of the Top 100 Most Influential Business Leaders in Collier County in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Most recently, she was appointed to Florida Council for arts and culture by Senate President
Kathleen Passidomo.