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Barry Edelstein is the Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director and is a stage director, producer, author, and educator. His Globe directing credits include The Winter’s Tale, Othello, The Twenty-Seventh Man, the world premiere of Rain, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Hamlet, the world premiere of The Wanderers, the American premiere of Life After, Romeo and Juliet, and, during the pandemic, Hamlet: On the Radio. He also directed All’s Well That Ends Well as the inaugural production of the Globe for All community tour, and he oversees the Globe’s Classical Directing Fellowship program. In addition to his recent Globe credits, he directed The Tempest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2018, and he will next direct The Wanderers Off Broadway with Roundabout Theatre Company in 2023. As Director of the Shakespeare Initiative at The Public Theater (2008–2012), Edelstein oversaw all of the company’s Shakespearean productions as well as its educational, community outreach, and artist-training programs. At The Public, he staged the world premiere of The Twenty-Seventh Man, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, Timon of Athens, and Steve Martin’s WASP and Other Plays. He was also Associate Producer of The Public’s Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino. From 1998 to 2003 he was Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company. His book Thinking Shakespeare is the standard text on American Shakespearean acting. He is also the author of Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions. He is a graduate of Tufts University and the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
Timothy J. Shields joined The Old Globe as Managing Director in 2017. In his time in San Diego, he has enjoyed becoming involved in the community. He currently serves as a board member of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s LEAD program; an advisory board member of the San Diego Downtown Partnership; and Vice President of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership. He brings to San Diego many decades of not-for-profit theatre experience. He was Managing Director of Princeton, New Jersey’s McCarter Theatre Center (2009-2017); Milwaukee Repertory Theater (1998–2009); and Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York (1992–1998). He has also held administrative positions at Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, Denver Center Theatre Company, and McCarter Theatre Center in an earlier period of his career. He served as President of the League of Resident Theatres and as Vice President of the board at Theatre Communications Group. He has been the Chair of the ArtPride NJ board; a member of Milwaukee’s Latino Arts Board; and a board member of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee. He holds a B.F.A. in Drama Production from Carnegie-Mellon University in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Jack O'Brien served as Artistic Director of The Old Globe from 1981 to 2007. His Broadway credits include All My Sons, Carousel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Front Page, It’s Only a Play, Macbeth, The Nance, Catch Me If You Can, The Coast of Utopia (Tony Award), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nomination), Henry IV (Tony Award), Hairspray (Tony Award), Imaginary Friends, The Invention of Love (Tony nomination), The Full Monty (Tony nomination), Two Shakespearean Actors (Tony nomination), Porgy and Bess (Tony nomination), and many more. He has also directed for national tours, the West End, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and San Diego Opera, as well as six movies for PBS’s “American Playhouse.” He was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2008. Jack Be Nimble: The Accidental Education of an Unintentional Director, his memoir about the early years of his career, was released in 2013.
Craig Noel was born on August 25, 1915, and in 2015 The Old Globe celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of this theatre legend who was instrumental in cultivating the San Diego arts community. Mr. Noel was first appointed director in 1939, directing 15 productions prior to World War II. Following the war he directed more than 200 plays of all styles and periods and produced an additional 270 productions. His vision for The Old Globe resulted in the establishment of the Shakespeare Festival and the San Diego Junior Theatre in the late ’40s, the expansion to two theatres in the ’50s, Globe Educational Tours in the ’70s, and Teatro Meta and the Old Globe/University of San Diego Graduate Theatre Program in the ’80s. During the 1940s, Mr. Noel served as dialogue director for the 20th Century Fox Studios and was the director of the Ernie Pyle Theatre in Tokyo. Described by Variety as the éminence grise of San Diego theatre, Mr. Noel is one of the few San Diegans to have had an entire year (1987) proclaimed in his honor, and to be named one of San Diego’s “Living Treasures.” He was a founder of the California Theatre Council and a former vice president of the California Confederation of the Arts. His numerous honors include the San Diego Union-Tribune list of 25 persons who shaped the city’s history; the Governor’s Award for the Arts; University of Arizona Alumni Association’s Outstanding Citizen, for his contribution to their Fine Arts department; San Diego State University’s Outstanding Alumnus; Conservator of American Arts Award from American Conservatory Theater; the San Diego Press Club Headliner Award; San Diego Gentleman of Distinction Award; and a combined tribute from the Public Arts Advisory Council and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. Mr. Noel was particularly proud of the following three honors representing education and theatre: Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, University of San Diego; Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts, San Diego State University; and the annual Awards for Excellence in Theatre named in his honor by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. In 2007, he received the National Medal of Arts—the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence—in a ceremony at the White House. Craig Noel died on April 3, 2010 at the age of 94.
