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PHOTO EDITORS: Photos of Thinking Shakespeare Live! can be found here.
SAN DIEGO (February 16, 2024) The Old Globe is thrilled to announce that the popular annual event Thinking Shakespeare Live!, directed by the Globe’s Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, will be held on Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. This program is part of a milestone celebration in Globe history surrounding a once-in-a-generation event, as The Old Globe becomes the 11th theatre company nationwide to complete Shakespeare’s canon with Henry 6, a new two-play adaptation of Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III, directed and adapted by Edelstein, as part of the Globe’s 2024 Summer Shakespeare Festival. The celebrations also include the free, family-friendly Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare! AXIS event, an exciting and festive occasion to celebrate the Bard’s countless contributions to arts and culture around the world, on Saturday, April 20, 2024 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the Globe’s outdoor Copley Plaza. Tickets for Thinking Shakespeare Live! are now on sale for Globe subscribers and donors at www.TheOldGlobe.org. Tickets will be available to the public on Friday, April 5 at 12:00 noon.
Drawn from Edelstein’s approachable and inviting book Thinking Shakespeare: A How-To Guide for Student Actors, Directors, and Anyone Else Who Wants to Feel More Comfortable with the Bard, Thinking Shakespeare Live! will feature Edelstein, who will be joined by three professional classical actors. Immediately after the event, Edelstein will sign copies of Thinking Shakespeare, which will be available for purchase at the theatre.
This program is an ideal introduction to Shakespeare for families and young audiences, as well as an exciting new look at the playwright for Bardophiles. Edelstein has performed Thinking Shakespeare Live! across the country, including at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC.
“As the Globe prepares for our epic production of Henry 6 this summer, we’re preparing all sorts of programming to celebrate Shakespeare and our long history with his works,” said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “One of my favorite Shakespeare events is my Thinking Shakespeare Live! program, which is a fun and fast-paced 90-minute introduction to Shakespeare and how his language works onstage. I love presenting it, and I’m very grateful to return to our stage this summer to spread the joy and thrill of this amazing writer.”
In addition to serving as Artistic Director at the Globe, Edelstein is a renowned stage director, producer, podcast host, and educator. He has directed over half of the Bard’s plays. Among his Globe directing credits are What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, The Winter’s Tale, Othello, The Twenty-Seventh Man, the world premiere of Rain, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, and Romeo and Juliet, among others. He oversaw The Old Globe’s inaugural Classical Directing Fellowship program. Prior to joining the Globe, Edelstein was the Director of the Shakespeare initiative at The Public Theater (New York City), and the Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company (New York City). He is also the creator and host of The Old Globe and Pushkin Industries’s podcast Where There’s a Will: Finding Shakespeare, an exploration of the many ways Shakespeare has made his way into unexpected corners of American life. His book Thinking Shakespeare is considered the standard text on American Shakespearean acting.
Tickets for Thinking Shakespeare Live! are now on sale for Globe subscribers and donors and are available online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE (234-5623), or in person at our Box Office in Balboa Park. Regular ticket prices start at $19. Discounts available for students and Globe subscribers and donors. Tickets will be available to the general public on Friday, April 5at 12:00 noon. For additional information, visit www.TheOldGlobe.org.
Other 2024 Shakespeare celebrations at The Old Globe include:
Henry 6
World premiere adaptation
By William Shakespeare
Adapted and directed by Barry Edelstein
June 30 – September 14, 2024 (opening: Friday, July 19) for One: Flowers and France
July 9 – September 15, 2024 (opening: Saturday, July 20) for Two: Riot and Reckoning
A once-in-a-generation event comes to San Diego in 2024: The Old Globe becomes only the 11th theatre in the country’s history to complete Shakespeare’s canon with Henry 6, the largest Shakespeare production the Globe has ever presented.
Acclaimed Shakespeare director and the Globe’s Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein turns the rarely produced Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III into a thrilling two-part event, running simultaneously through the summer in our beautiful outdoor theatre. Two ruling families of England, the Yorks and the Lancasters, fight each other in a high-stakes civil war for power known as the Wars of the Roses. These adaptations include everything people love about the Bard—ingenious language, vibrant characters, breathtaking battles, and sweeping crowd scenes—as they explore the impact of national politics on individual lives. And the action is framed by a design team working at the very top of their craft, and a sprawling cast of professional actors and local community members.
This historic milestone will be celebrated with a yearlong program of citywide arts engagement and humanities events that will bring audiences closer to the art than ever before, including opportunities for San Diegans to participate in the making of the production itself. It is an event that simply cannot be missed!
Henry 6 is supported by Lead Production Sponsor The Roy Cockrum Foundation; Major Production Sponsors Kathryn Hattox Charitable Trust and The Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Fund; and Production Sponsors Hal and Pam Fuson and Jeannie Polinsky Rivkin Artistic Fund. The arts engagement programs are supported by Price Philanthropies, Qualcomm, U.S. Bank, and Viasat.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare!
AXIS event
Saturday, April 20, 2024
The Old Globe invites friends and families from San Diego and beyond to celebrate the theatre’s longest resident playwright, William Shakespeare, with the Globe’s annual AXIS event Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare! on Saturday, April 20, 2024 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the Globe’s outdoor Copley Plaza in Balboa Park. The Bard’s birthday—his 460th!—is an exciting and festive occasion to celebrate his countless contributions to arts and culture around the world. This event is free to attend and will offer fun activities for kids of all ages to enjoy.
Financial support of The Old Globe is provided by The City of San Diego. The Theodor and Audrey Geisel Fund provides leadership support for The Old Globe’s year-round activities.
Bios and photos of all participants can be found at www.TheOldGlobe.org/Press-Room.
The Tony Award–winning The Old Globe is one of the country’s leading professional not-for-profit regional theatres. Now in its 89th year, the Globe is San Diego’s flagship performing arts institution, and it serves a vibrant community with theatre as a public good. Under the leadership of Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and the Audrey S. Geisel Managing Director Timothy J. Shields, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 16 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages, including its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people annually attend Globe productions and participate in the theatre’s artistic and arts engagement programs. Its nationally prominent Arts Engagement Department provides an array of participatory programs that make theatre matter to more people in neighborhoods throughout the region. Humanities programs at the Globe and around the city broaden the community’s understanding of theatre art in all its forms. The Globe also boasts a range of new play development programs with professional and community-based writers, as well as the renowned The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. Numerous world premieres—such as 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Bright Star, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! —have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.
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