little theater, big heart

JIM MCLAUGHLIN/ FLORIDA WEEKLY The outdoor stage of the recently opened Purple Heart Theater. Carl Conley believes in building a home for the arts on Fort Myers Beach, one brick at a time.

He started by presenting one performance at a time, and estimates that over the past eight years or so, he's brought 45 or 50 events to the Beach.

He's booked Bo Diddley Jr., Joe Weaver, Wendy DeWitt. A couple of weekends ago, he booked Gene Walker, protégé and understudy of King Curtis. The saxophonist has performed with musicians such as Aretha

Franklin, Wilson Pickett and the Isley Brothers.

Mr. Conley also hosts an annual jazz and blues festival on the Beach. Blues on the Green: The Fat Back

Blues Festival expands to three days next year and will host a dozen bands, including Sir Mack Rice, former house songwriter for Stax Records and composer of "Mustang Sally" and "Respect Yourself."

When Fort Myers Beach became incorporated into Lee County in 1996, one of the first things the new city did was draft a comprehensive land development plan to regulate building and future development in order to "keep the small island feel," Mr. Conley says. One of the things he noted was missing from the comp plan, however, was a performing arts center.

CONLEY So Mr. Conley, founder, publisher and editor the Island Sand Paper, decided to fill in the gap. He began planning and holding events as fundraisers for a performing arts center. The Island Arts Foundation's motto was: "Building a home for the arts, one brick at a time."

But after a while, he realized raising money "one brick at a time" would take too long; besides, when the events were over, the profit was negligible. His scrappy weekly newspaper was flourishing on the Beach, so he took matters into his own hands and purchased a building on a pie-shaped lot on Estero Boulevard.

"It didn't seem big enough at first" to serve as a performing arts center, Mr. Conley remembers. But when he reasoned that 70 to 120 people show up at his events, he realized he only had to build a theater that would hold approximately 100 people.

JIM MCLAUGHLIN/ FLORIDA WEEKLY Dan McWeeny, Director Elizabeth D'Onofrio, Sherwood Cooper, Steve Vallo, Keri Hendry and Mark List And so he did.

He bought the building at 2915 Estero Blvd. for $300,000, then spent $250,000 renovating it. The first floor houses the Purple Heart Theater; the second floor is an office of the Island Sand Paper.

Mr. Conley and his partner, photographer Karen Mills, live on the third floor. They actually lived there throughout the renovation, which took four years — something he doesn't recommend, and swears he'll never do again.

He describes the building as "a crappy, old, dilapidated beach cottage." Built in 1949, it had warped wood and termites. Some of the pilings weren't even attached to the ground. "You wondered how the place was even standing," he marvels.

The building is deceptively small when viewed from the front.

Inside, the theater itself is half building, half courtyard. The stage is under a black canopy, and seating in the courtyard is exposed to the elements. A VIP deck on the second floor seats 25 to 30 people. There are also seats inside the building.

JIM MCLAUGHLIN/ FLORIDA WEEKLY Assistant Director Trent Townsend. "If you're on stage, you have a clear view (right through the building) of the Gulf," Mr. Conley says. "And if you're seated inside, you can look one way and see the stage, and look the other way, and see the Gulf."

Art in every detail

The building has been carefully crafted with a dozen different exotic hardwoods, including tigerwood, zebrawood, purpleheart, Brazilian rosewood, Honduran mahogany and cocobolo. Master carpenter Martin Franklin, who Mr. Conley says has done work for Britain's royal family, created a masterpiece with the Purple Heart Theatre. Space is limited, but every inch is utilized, as if on a ship.

Signed photographs of musicians and concert posters line the walls. There's one of trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, a former member of the Ray Charles Orchestra, and pianist Joe Weaver, an original Funk Brother who played sessions for Motown hits.

An upright piano sits next to a bamboo table with benches that could easily seat a dozen.

Everywhere you look, there's art in the attention to detail.

In the back yard, Mr. Conley had an Australian pine tree that he claims was the largest on the island cut down. Out of the three-pronged trunk, he had Tiki Tom, a well-known local chainsaw artist, carve a sculpture: three musicians, each standing on a stump. On the left, a man with shoulder-length hair and glasses plays bass; in the center, a man in a porkpie hat plays saxophone; and on the right, a woman plays keyboard. "That's wood that's harder than iron," Mr. Conley says.

He generally holds concerts from 4 to 7 p.m. or 5 to 8 p.m., out of respect for his neighbors. But the music — usually blues or jazz — isn't especially loud anyway. "We have no rock or rap bands," he says. "We have class-act musicians.

"I'm trying to present art, not a party. It's an art party, but it's not a drinking party," he clarifies.

Curtain time

The Purple Heart Theater was dedicated Nov. 21, with Sen. Bill Nelson's wife, Grace, speaking, and Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah attending. Soon after, the Island Arts Foundation presented its first play on the Purple Heart Stage: "On the Hard," written by local playwright Faye Ellen Graetz.

"On the Hard" is a nautical term that means "on the land." Ms. Graetz's play is about a couple that purchases a fixerupper in a Florida boatyard to get them to the Caribbean. The six-member cast was directed by Elizabeth D'Onofrio. An Equity actor, Ms. D'Onofrio also has a role in "On the Hard" and gives acting lessons at the Purple Heart.

"I think it's a great theater," she says. "It's beautiful. Carl did a really great job with it."

Mr. Conley is well known on the Beach. Even standing outside in front of his theater for just a minute or two, he's constantly waving back at people who honk at him while driving by. Naturally gregarious, he has a story about everything and shows off the Purple Heart Theater with pride.

The theater's name has nothing to do with the medal of the same name; its inspiration comes from the dark, purple-hued wood Mr. Conley ordered specially for the renovation. He had a container of purpleheart wood shipped from Central America. "It's a very hard tropical wood that doesn't float," he explains. "It's dense and oily. Termites won't eat it. You can't drive a nail into it. You have to drill a hole with a metal bit and sink a wood screw into it.'

Mr. Franklin, the master carpenter, milled the purplewood in the backyard. He cut it into rough boards, planed them so they were of equal thickness, and used them for the stage floor.

"I love the name of the wood," Mr. Conley says, adding purpleheart is also called "Nazareno wood." That name made him think of Jesus of Nazareth and the portraits of Jesus with a big purple heart in his chest.

"Two things were going on: the attitude of the theater giving to people. It gives people joy," he says. "And the Nazareno wood… one day, it just dawned on us: what a good name, the Purple Heart Theater."

If — or when — a hurricane strikes, the wood can sit under salt water for a day or to and won't warp or rot. He even tested a piece, submersing it in water for three weeks. When he took it out and drilled it, it was dry inside.

So post-hurricane, he says, they'll hose down the wood, sand it, and everything will be OK. "The basic structure, the stage, tile and marble, is all put down with polymer adhesives, which is supposed to resist flooding" he says. "That's what we hope will happen."

He pauses, then adds every islander's hope: "Maybe we'll get lucky, and we won't get a storm to hit here for another 20 years."

He looks around. "Such a labor of love."

Upcoming events at the Purple Heart Theater

>>What: Sixth Annual Island Arts Foundation Christmas Concert, featuring bluesman Sean Carney, includes dinner, drink and show

>>When: 4-7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 21

>>Where: Purple Heart Theater, 2915 Estero Blvd., Fort Myers Beach

>>Cost: $50 per person/$90 per couple ($40 per person/$75 per couple for IAF members)

>>Information: Call 218-6064 or go to info@ islandartsfoundation.org

>>Upcoming: Classical duo flautist Jennifer Wilhelms and pianist Matthew McCright perform from 4-7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009.