Gulfshore Playhouse Announces Cast and Creative Team
Published on January 08, 2026
Naples, FL — Kristen Coury, CEO & Producing Artistic Director of Gulfshore Playhouse, is proud to announce the cast and creative team for the World Premiere of Circle Forward, a new play by Deb Hiett, directed by Neel Keller. Featured in Gulfshore Playhouse’s 2023 New Works Festival, this comedic, surprising, and uplifting new work takes audiences on a twist-filled journey where grief, hope, and the unexpected collide.
Previews for Circle Forward will be January 27 and 28, 2026, with Opening Night on Thursday, January 29, 2026. The production will run through Sunday, March 1, 2026.
Seventeen years after her husband’s tragic death, Mia has built a life devoted to helping others cope with loss—traveling the country to share her story. But her hard-won stability is shaken when a teenager insists he is her late husband reincarnated. Expecting a hoax, Mia is stunned when the teen reveals details no stranger could possibly know. As the past pushes its way into the present, Circle Forward explores what happens when life refuses to follow the rules we’ve learned to rely on—and when healing arrives in the most unexpected form.
Gulfshore Playhouse is delighted to welcome the cast, all with their Gulfshore Playhouse debuts. Meeghan Holaway (Off-Broadway’s Dinner With Friends, Broadway’s Baby It’s You) as Mia, Anthony Zambito (Off-Broadway’s production Ghost of John McCain, Maltz Jupiter’s Brighton Beach Memoirs) as Ethan, Anne Troup (Hartford Stage’s The Engagement Party, Classic Stage Company) as Lexi, and Bekah Zornosa (Shakespeare Theatre’s King Lear, Arena Stage’s Sanctuary City) as Calista.
The production is led by an accomplished creative team, including playwright Deb Hiett who’s play Miss Keller Has No Second Book had its world premiere at Gulfshore Playhouse in 2018. Her full-length plays include The Super Variety Match Bonus Round! and The Escape Thingy. As an actor, Deb can be seen in many TV shows and films, including “Barbie,” “The Office,” “Young Sheldon,” “Parks and Recreation,” “The Good Place.
Director Neel Keller is a champion of new works with directing credits including the world premieres of Dael Orlandersmith’s Until The Flood and Spiritus, Kimber Lee’s to the yellow house, Eliza Clark’s Quack, Julia Cho’s Office Hour, and Jennifer Haley’s The Nether. Neel has directed at many theaters including The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, South Coast Repertory, and Williamstown Theatre Festival.
The creative team also includes scenic design by Baron E. Pugh (Gulfshore Playhouse The Lehman Trilogy, Off-Broadway’s shadow/land), costume design by Kirche Leigh Zeile (Gulfshore Playhouse, Weston Theatre Company, AMAS, Syracuse Stage), lighting design by Graham Zellers (SoHo Rep, Theater for a New Audience, National Black Theater / Apollo Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theater (DC), Yale Repertory Theater), sound design by Christopher Colucci (Gulfshore Playhouse The Lady Demands Satisfaction, Skylight, An Enemy of the People, In The Next Room, and Moon Over Buffalo), casting by Michael Cassara, CSA, and stage management by Danny Kuenzel (White Christmas, Sweet Charity, Anything Goes)
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT EVENTS
Gulfshore Playhouse will offer several opportunities for deeper engagement with the production:
Creative Conversation (behind-the-scenes talkback with the director and designers)
- January 28, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Actor Talkbacks (post-show)
- February 5, 2026
- February 10, 2026
- February 24, 2026
Pre-Show Discussions
- February 25, 2026 at 1:15 PM & 6:45 PM
- March 1, 2026 at 2:15 PM
Playhouse Playdate (youth creative drama experience during the show)
- February 21, 2026 at 2:00 PM ($20 per student)
TICKETS and INFORMATION
LOCATION: The Baker Theatre and Education Center, Struthers Studio, 100 Goodlette-Frank Road South, Naples, Florida 34102.
SHOW TIMES: Tuesday-Saturday at 7:30PM, Wednesday and Saturday at 2PM, and Sunday at 3PM. Please check the calendar for any schedule changes.
TICKETS: Tickets are now on sale and start at $40. Discounted tickets are available for patrons under 35; Educators; Families composed of two adults and two children; Active military, veterans, first responders, and their immediate families. Tickets can be ordered online (gulfshoreplayhouse.org) or by phone (239.261.PLAY).
IN-PERSON BOX OFFICE HOURS: Patron Services at the Baker Theatre and Education Center is open Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday Noon-5pm. Additionally, the Box Office is open 90 minutes before show times.
ABOUT GULFSHORE PLAYHOUSE
Gulfshore Playhouse is passionately committed to enriching the cultural landscape of our region by producing professional theatre to the highest artistic standards and providing unique educational opportunities to diverse groups of people in a spirit of service, adventure, and excitement. The work of Gulfshore Playhouse is inspired by a belief in the magic of theatre to expand the imagination, challenge the senses, provoke discussion, and revitalize in its audiences an understanding of our common humanity. This belief drives the care with which Gulfshore Playhouse treats its artists, audiences, students, staff, and members of the greater community.
Gulfshore Playhouse is now producing in the state-of-the-art Baker Theatre and Education Center. Located at the corner of Goodlette-Frank Road South and 1st Avenue South, the gateway to downtown Naples, the facility houses a 350-seat mainstage theatre and a 125-seat studio space, in addition to numerous events, rehearsal, and educational spaces. Naming opportunities are still available.
For more information about Gulfshore Playhouse or its new facility, or to make a contribution, visit www.gulfshoreplayhouse.org or call 239-261-PLAY.