Bob Harden is the Chairman of Gulfshore Playhouse’s Board of Directors.

The Twelfth Annual Gulfshore Playhouse Charity Golf Tournament is coming up on Monday, October 24 at the beautiful TwinEagles Talon Golf Course. A hearty “thank you” goes to Cheryl and Jack Solomon, owners of the Ronto Group and developers of TwinEagles, for their support and for donating the course, lunch, dinner buffet, and drinks for the event. Because of their generosity, almost all of the revenue for the tournament goes to Gulfshore Playhouse. We have a full field of participants with over 100 golfers signed up to play thanks to our tournament “hosts.” Many of our golfers are season subscribers who have participated in the Tournament for years and look forward to the event each season. Supporters of Gulfshore Playhouse who cannot attend still participate by becoming our “hole sponsors.” We anticipate raising over $50,000 from our tournament this year to help fund Gulfshore Playhouse programs and productions.

So how did Gulfshore Playhouse end up with a golf tournament in the first place? The history of the Golf Tournament goes hand-in-hand with the history of Gulfshore Playhouse. We started the tournament in 2004 as an answer to the question for our nascent organization, “How can we raise money to fund our start-up costs?” We were excited to raise over $10,000 in our very first tournament. Since then, each tournament has grown and it continues to help fund the start-up costs for each season.

Gulfshore Playhouse’s annual budget has risen to $3 million this year which covers a number of expenses. For instance, like all theatres associated with the Actors Equity Association, we’re required to post a sizable bond to the actors union each year. Our staff is now busy building sets, making costumes for a 10-person production of My Fair Lady, and rehearsing with tremendous professional actors. You may not know that ticket sales provide only about 50% of the revenue needed to fund our education programs and meet our production costs each year.

Our golf tournament comes at the perfect time to meet some of these financial needs and help Gulfshore Playhouse continue to bring unique, high-quality theatrical experiences to our region. The tournament is always fun, with lots of games and prizes. It’s also gratifying to know that is goes to support such a great cause.

For more information about the 12th Annual Charity Golf Tournament click here.