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SAN DIEGO (March 26, 2020)—The Old Globe believes that theatre matters, now more than ever, and we are determined to continue to serve the public through theatre art. We consider it paramount that we continue to be a leader in programming for our community, and we are developing plans to support and maintain valued connections with those searching for meaning and entertainment in the arts. Although our campus is dark, we are aware of the hunger for artistic content and continued personal growth, so our staff has been planning ways to offer some of our programs online for free, part of The Old Globe’s ongoing commitment to serve the public good by providing programs that make theatre matter to more people.
The Globe will transition our existing groundbreaking work in diverse arts engagement programs developed with our Community Partner venues onto our online platforms. The first of these will include Community Voices, a playwriting workshop that begins Thursday, March 26, 2020 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Behind the Curtain, a how-to-make-theatre workshop, starting Wednesday, April 1, 2020 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. They will both be available on The Old Globe Arts Engagement’s Facebook page.
These public offerings are built upon the success of ongoing arts engagement programs, which were in the midst of classes in Community Partner venues. Immediately following the initial stay-at-home rulings, participants were offered the chance to continue their workshops through Zoom, utilizing their phones and computers. Globe Teaching Artists held our first Community Voices Zoom workshop for Lemon Grove Branch Library participants on Saturday, March 21—a resounding success.
The Old Globe’s Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein will lead a special free online sonnets edition of Thinking Shakespeare Live!, a fast-paced, funny, and altogether fascinating guide to the language of the Bard. An ideal introduction to Shakespeare for families and young audiences, as well as an exciting new look at the playwright for Bardophiles, Thinking Shakespeare Live: Sonnets! will take place on Tuesday, March 31 at 6:30 p.m. on The Old Globe’s Facebook page. Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets, each only 14 lines long, contain some of his most beautiful and moving poetry. This half-hour, “social-distance” version of Thinking Shakespeare Live! will introduce the sonnets and then delve into one masterpiece of the form, exploring its language and how it works, and how it relates to Shakespeare’s work for the stage.
While the Globe’s stages are dark, audiences are invited to explore Shakespeare’s plays in On Book: The Old Globe’s Shakespeare Reading Group. Beginning with the two plays announced for the Globe’s 2020 Summer Shakespeare Festival, The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V, the group will offer an online space to read and discuss Shakespeare’s work with directors, actors, and other artists who have tackled these great masterworks for the Globe’s stages. The roster of artists is being assembled now and will be announced shortly. Beginning Thursday, April 2, meetings will take place every Monday and Thursday at 12:00 noon on The Old Globe’s On Book Facebook group page. (Timeframe may shift as interest develops).
In addition to these initial offerings, conversations are taking place and plans are evolving for exciting additional online content from past Globe artists and upcoming productions. Check in for exciting new content on our social media platforms, and check our website and emails for future institutional news. All programs are first come, first served, subject to interactive class limits.
“Theatre endures, even in the most challenging circumstances,” said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “The Old Globe’s 85-year history of providing exciting and entertaining programming for our community continues with these special initiatives. I’m so proud of our staff, whose hard work and endless creativity have developed ways for us to bring our work to San Diego and beyond, and I’m beyond thrilled to be able to fulfill our mission to serve and support our community in this unprecedented moment. Our arts engagement programs are nationally renowned, and I know that participating in them will be a balm. Our humanities programs keep us in conversation about how theatre keeps the world spinning forward. And personally: a great mentor of mine taught me that there’s no problem in this world that can’t be eased at least a little by having some Shakespeare thrown at it, so I’m raring to go. We all look forward to seeing you, at least virtually, very soon.”
“In times of uncertainty, people crave not only information but community,” added Director of Arts Engagement Freedome Bradley-Ballentine. “Since its inception, the Globe has been a vital gathering place to offer comfort, discuss big ideas, and entertain. Whether on Broadway, in prisons, or at senior centers, we are dedicated to the public good. It is our responsibility to be responsive to our community, to make theatre that matters, and to offer people who depend on the Globe a place to gather, connect, share their stories, and not feel alone.”
For the full press release, click here! For more information and updates on our new online theatre programs, click here! To follow The Old Globe on Facebook, click here! To follow The Old Globe Arts Engagement on Facebook, click here!
(San Diego, March 12, 2020)—Following guidelines released last night by Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Public Health in response to the increasing challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19, The Old Globe has announced that it will suspend public performances effective immediately, and, per the guidelines, at least through the end of March.
Two productions now in rehearsal, Little Women and Faceless, will be postponed until further notice.
Further, all community-based programming run by the Globe’s Department of Arts Engagement in partnership with neighborhood non-profit and other organizations will be temporarily suspended, or, where possible, conducted online. And The Old Globe Classical Directing Fellowship, scheduled for next week, will be rescheduled for later this year.
As all other Globe operations continue uninterrupted, we maintain and augment mitigation and containment strategies as recommended by the CDC and WHO, and as directed by all relevant public authorities.
Revised policies regarding ticketing for all subscribers and single ticket buyers will be released in due course.
“The Globe’s commitment to the health and safety of our audiences and artists is paramount, and though these steps are difficult and painful, we are glad to take them,” said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “We are grateful to Governor Newsom for the clarity of these public health guidelines. The productions whose schedules are affected are extraordinary pieces of theatre, and as this anxious situation unfolds, we will seek ways to be able to share them with our audiences, albeit slightly later than planned. We are grateful to all the artists and craftspeople who are impacted by these upheavals in their professional schedules. They have been flexible and positive, as have our arts engagement community partners, and the directors in our Fellowship. The Old Globe has approached the unfolding coronavirus situation with seriousness and care, and we have not made these decisions lightly. We will continue to monitor the situation, and we wish to assure our supporters and all of San Diego that we will institute every possible measure to ensure the continuing health not only of our many constituencies, but also of this institution.”
AN DIEGO (March 6, 2020)—The Old Globe is pleased to announce the 2020 Classical Directing Fellowships, a program of the Karen and Stuart Tanz Fellowships at The Old Globe, led by the Globe’s Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, a leading Shakespearean scholar, author, and director. Four directing fellows—Meg DeBoard (assistant directed at The Old Globe and La Jolla Playhouse; local credits include Spring Awakening, Failure: A Love Story), Manoel Felciano (actor in the Globe’s The Tempest, Ken Ludwig’s Robin Hood! and Twelfth Night; Broadway’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Sweeney Todd, Amélie), Lavina Jadhwani (As You Like It at Guthrie Theater, Peter and the Starcatcher atOregon Shakespeare Festival, The Cake at Asolo Repertory Theatre), and Edward Torres (the Globe’s Familiar, Native Gardens, Water by the Spoonful, 2017 and 2020 Powers New Voices Festivals; award-winning world premiere of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity)—will participate in the second session of Shakespeare directing workshops. They will be in residence from Monday, March 16 to Saturday, March 21, 2020.
Thanks to the generosity of Karen and Stuart Tanz, who have made a significant 10-year pledge to the Annual Fund of The Old Globe, the program is part of the Karen and Stuart Tanz Fellowships at The Old Globe. Their gift supports theatre training programs such as Edelstein’s Classical Directing Fellowships, and will be recognized with production sponsorships of two shows each year and with a permanent paver stone on the Globe’s Copley Plaza.
Karen Tanz is a proud member of the Board of Directors at The Old Globe, as well as one of the 2019 Globe Gala Co-Chairs, and is active with many philanthropic organizations in San Diego. Originally from Toronto, she studied theatre management at the Banff School of Fine Arts, which inspired her work in live theatre and television in Canada. she served as a producer of the musical Allegiance, which premiered at the Globe in 2012. Stuart Tanz is President and CEO of ROIC, a position he has held since 2009. He also serves as Chairman of the University of Toronto Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases. They moved to Rancho Santa Fe in 1989 to raise two children, and they now have a granddaughter. They have previously sponsored October Sky, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, Life After, and this year’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.
As one of the leading Shakespeare theatres in America, the Globe presents four full productions of the Bard’s plays annually, and Shakespeare is central to the theatre’s nationally renowned arts engagement programs. All of this work exemplifies the Globe’s values-driven commitment to making theatre matter to more people, a commitment that expresses the Globe’s view of theatre art as a public good. This commitment and this view require the Globe to think about the future of the American theatre and to train artists whose work will embody the values we champion. We can make a contribution not only to our own work but also to the field at large by expanding the ranks of exciting Shakespeareans ready to make theatre at the Globe’s level of excellence.
This Classical Directing Fellowships will continue to broaden our professional artist-training work, which initially centered on The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program, which focuses on actors. The 2019 Classical Directing Fellowship pilot-program cohort included four diverse young directors from San Diego and across the U.S., including Globe veterans Daniel Jáquez and Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, as well as Sam White and LA Williams, and we are excited to see it evolve into an ongoing part of the Globe’s artistic life.
The Classical Directing Fellowships focus on Shakespeare’s text, how it is put together, and how it works in the imaginations and voices of American actors. In master classes, Edelstein will present a series of techniques that the fellows will then employ in rehearsals with a company of professional actors. The work will culminate in a private presentation on Saturday. After that, all involved will debrief and broaden the conversation to some larger questions about Shakespeare, American culture, and the director’s art and life. Throughout the week, in addition to the artistic work, the fellows will meet with members of the Globe’s staff in many departments, and with representatives of the San Diego theatre community beyond the Globe. They will gain not only a set of specific tools to use in directing Shakespeare, but also a sense of the community in one of America’s most dynamic theatre towns. In exchange, the Globe will have the chance to begin a conversation with a group of gifted artists with so much to offer this theatre.
“Last year the Globe launched a new initiative aimed at enriching American Shakespeare, and the results were so exciting that we decided to make it a permanent program,” said Edelstein. “The Globe is one of the country’s leading producers of Shakespeare, and we embrace our role in training the artists who will carry this great writer’s canon forward and stage it with new imagination and innovative interpretation. Our first cohort of fellows—Daniel Jàquez, Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, Sam White, and LA Williams—have already, in the course of only a year, made major contributions to American Shakespeare, and our second cohort is poised to do the same. Meg, Lavina, Eddie, and Mano are artists of great skill and accomplishment, and the Globe is delighted to be part of their trajectory in this way. I’m particularly grateful to Karen and Stuart Tanz, whose philanthropy is central to this theatre and whose commitment to the future of our art form is as impactful as it is commendable. I look forward to another wonderful year of this fellowship as it grows in excellence and depth.”
For the full press release on the 2020 Classical Directing Fellowships, click here!
SAN DIEGO (February 19, 2020)—The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for the West Coast premiere of Little Women by Kate Hamill (Off Broadway’s Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Dracula). This brand-new version of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel about Jo March and her three unforgettably distinct sisters is presented in association with Dallas Theater Center and is directed by Sarah Rasmussen (Artistic Director of Jungle Theater, which originally commissioned the play). Little Women will run March 14 – April 19, 2020 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Previews run March 14–18. Opening night is Thursday, March 19 at 8:00 p.m. Single tickets start at $30.00 and can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or at our Box Office in Balboa Park. Little Women runs February 7 – March 1, 2020 in the Kalita Humphreys Theater at Dallas Theater Center.
Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel of the March sisters is beloved by generations of readers. Now her heartfelt story of Jo March and her three unforgettably distinct sisters, Meg, Beth, and Amy, comes to the stage in a brand-new version that honors the spirit of Alcott’s original while freshly interpreting it for a new era. The Wall Street Journal named the prolific and widely produced Kate Hamill as Playwright of the Year. The West Coast premiere of her sparkling adaptation will have audiences falling in love with the March sisters all over again as they grow from young girls to little women.
The cast includes Andrew Crowe as Robert March (Twelfth Night at Shakespeare in the Park, Sweeney Todd, Cabaret, and Stand by Your Man national tours), Jennie Greenberry as Meg March (Lucky Duck Off Broadway, Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Lilli Hokama as Amy March (The Wolves at Lincoln Center Theater, Greenland Off Broadway), Louis Reyes McWilliams as Laurie Laurence (Coriolanus at The Public Theater, Anna Karenina and The War Boys Off Broadway), Liz Mikel as Marmie (Lysistrata Jones on and Off Broadway, extensive Dallas Theater Center credits), Alex Organ as John Brooks and Additional Voices (20-plus productions at Dallas Theater Center), Pearl Rhein as Jo March (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 on Broadway, The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare in the Park), Mike Sears as Mr. Laurence and Mr. Dashwood (Globe‘s What You Are, Rain, and Kiss Me, Kate, Off Broadway’s When Words Fail, Leap, and To Have and to Hold), Maggie Thompson as Beth March (Hedda and Sources of Light Other than the Sun Off Broadway), and Sally Nystuen Vahle as Hannah, Mrs. Mingott, and Aunt March (Dallas Theater Center starring roles in Steel Magnolias, A Christmas Carol, Medea, Electra, and Miller, Mississippi). Mikel, Organ, and Vahle are Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company members at Dallas Theater Center.
The creative team includes Wilson Chin (Scenic Design), Moria Sine Clinton (Costume Design), Marcus Dilliard (Lighting Design), Sean Healey (Sound Design), Earon Chew Nealey (Wig and Makeup Design), Robert Elhai (Original Music), Kristin Leahey (Dramaturg), Joel Ferrell (Movement Coach), Kelly Gillespie, CSA (Casting), and Megan Winters (Production Stage Manager).
“Little Women is an American classic that continues to beguile, a century and a half after Louisa May Alcott sent it into the world,” said The Old Globe’s Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “In the hands of two visionary women of the American theatre, the dazzling playwright Kate Hamill and the endlessly inventive director Sarah Rasmussen, the novel’s genius endures, and the captivating March sisters spring to brand new life. Hamill and Rasmussen revere the novel and refresh it at the same time. They build imaginative bridges between the Americas of the 19th century and the 21st. I am proud and excited to share their work, and the ravishing performances of a very gifted ensemble, with San Diego audiences.”
For the full press release on Little Women, click here! For the press page Little Women, click here! To buy tickets to Little Women, click here!
Photo: (from left) Jennie Greenberry as Meg March, Liz Mikel as Marmie, Pearl Rhein as Jo March, Lilli Hokama as Amy March, and Maggie Thompson as Beth March. The West Coast premiere of Little Women by Kate Hamill, directed by Sarah Rasmussen, presented in association with Dallas Theater Center, runs March 14 – April 19, 2020 at The Old Globe. Photo by Karen Almond.
SAN DIEGO (February 4, 2020)—The Old Globe’s Annual Meeting was held on Monday, February 3, 2020 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Board Chair Nicole A. Clay welcomed the members of The Old Globe Board of Directors along with donors, subscribers, and guests, and announced the newly elected Directors serving three-year terms. Globe senior staff members presented highlights of the 2019 fiscal year, and Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Timothy J. Shields spoke about the future of the Globe and its place in the San Diego community.
It was announced that Ann Davies will serve as Chair of the Board of Directors for a two-year term, succeeding Clay. The 2020 Executive Committee will consist of Davies (Chair), Nicole A. Clay (Immediate Past Chair), Donald L. Cohn (Past Chair, Ex Officio), Elaine Bennett Darwin (Past Chair, Ex Officio), Harold W. Fuson, Jr. (Past Chair, Ex Officio), Sheryl White (Past Chair, Ex Officio), Vicki L. Zeiger (Past Chair, Ex Officio), Evelyn Olson Lamden (Vice Chair, Nominating), Paula Powers (Secretary and Vice Chair, Development), Anthony S. Thornley (Treasurer), Terry Atkinson, Stephanie R. Bulger, Ph.D., Peter J. Cooper, Pamela A. Farr, Sue Sanderson, Karen L. Sedgwick, Jean Shekhter, and Karen Tanz.
Clay also announced that the following candidates identified by the Globe’s Nominating Committee were formally elected to serve three-year terms on the Board of Directors: Nishma Held, Susan Hoehn, Stella Larsen (completing Dean Thompson’s term), and Pamela Maudsley-Merrill (Globe Guilders President, Ex Officio).
Directors returning for additional three-year terms beginning in 2020 include Sean T. Anthony, Nicole A. Clay, Elaine Bennett Darwin, Pamela Farr, Robert Foxworth, Harold W. Fuson, Jr.,Jack Galloway, Daphne H. Jameson, Keven Lippert, Noelle Norton, Ph.D., Paula Powers, Karen L. Sedgwick, Jean Shekhter, Karen Tanz, Michael Taylor, Evelyn Mack Truitt, Sheryl White, Karin Winner, and Vicki L. Zeiger.
Directors currently serving three-year terms during 2020 include Mary Beth Adderley, Jules Arthur, Terry Atkinson, Stephanie R. Bulger, Ph.D., Donald L. Cohn, Ellise Coit, Peter J. Cooper, Ann Davies, George S. Davis, Mark Delfino, Silvija Devine, Richard J. Esgate, Jo Ann Kilty, Evelyn Olson Lamden, Sheila Lipinsky, Thomas Melody, David Jay Ohanian, Sandra Redman, Sue Sanderson, Scott W. Schmid, Rhona Thompson, Anthony S. Thornley, Debra Turner, Jordine Von Wantoch, Pamela J. Wagner, Reneé Wailes, Muffy Walker, and Lynne Wheeler.
Board members Ruben Islas, Jacqueline Lewis, Kim Neapole (Immediate Past Globe Guilders President, Ex Officio), and Dean Thompson concluded their service and were honored for their outstanding commitment to The Old Globe.
For the full press release on the 2020 Annual Meeting, click here!
The Old Globe continues to make theatre matter to more people by welcoming everybody to enjoy a season of free performances, arts, crafts, and workshops on the Globe’s Copley Plaza in Balboa Park. Thousands of people attended our free AXIS events in 2019, which featured music, dance, and original plays from the community, a comedy show, the Filipino musical sensation Manila Disco Fever, and an annual birthday celebration for our beloved resident playwright, William Shakespeare. The 2019 AXIS season also included our sensory-friendly AXIS event with music and Grinch-y workshops before the eighth sensory-friendly performance of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
What: Leap Day Celebration: A Dance-Off! kicks off the 2020 free AXIS event series! Ten local dance crews will battle each other in front of an experienced panel of local esteemed judges (including yourself!) who will select the very best performances for cash prizes ($2,000 for first place, $1,000 for second place, and $500 for third place), while all dancers will receive small prizes for participating. Join us in this epic and diverse dance-off!
How to submit: Submit a recent video performance of your troupe that is no more than 10 minutes in length to our Arts Engagement Programs Manager’s email, kharroff@TheOldGlobe, by February 10, 2020. All selected participating groups will be announced on February 14, 2020.
Where: On the Globe’s Copley Plaza. (The Old Globe is at 1363 Old Globe Way.)
When: Saturday, February 29, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
For the full press release on the AXIS Event: Leap Day Celebration: A Dance-Off!, click here! For the press page on the AXIS Event: Leap Day Celebration: A Dance-Off!, click here! For more on the AXIS Event: Leap Day Celebration: A Dance-Off!, click here!
Photo: I Love Africa AXIS Event, 2019. Photo by Rich Soublet II.
SAN DIEGO (January 21, 2020)—As part of The Old Globe’s ongoing commitment to serve the public good by hosting programs that serve all of San Diego County, applications are now available online for the 2020 Pam Farr Summer Shakespeare Studio for high school students. Applications will be accepted through Tuesday, March 31. The four-week program is a unique opportunity for rising 9th – 12th graders and recent graduates not only to develop foundational skills for reading, interpreting, and performing Shakespeare’s plays, but also to cultivate their own artistic voice through storytelling and creating original material.
The Old Globe believes that theatre matters. In our effort to make theatre matter to more people, the Pam Farr Summer Shakespeare Studio admits students without regard to their ability to pay, and financial and transportation support is available for all students with demonstrated need. Tuition for the four weeks is $725.00; interviews and group sessions will be scheduled, upon receipt of applications, for Monday, April 13 through Friday, April 24.
Students will actively participate in an intensive curriculum of acting, movement, music, and writing classes, as well as receive training in voice and speech, stage combat, and text. There will also be regular master classes with Globe artists and staff, many of whom are among the leaders in their fields. Students will deepen their understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare’s writing and use his work as a model for engaging with their own selves and enriching their knowledge of the Bard.
For more information on the program, photos from past performances, and application instructions, please visit www.TheOldGlobe.org/edp-pages/2020/pam-farr-summer-shakespeare-studio-2020 or email Studio@TheOldGlobe.org.
The Studio will run July 6 – August 4 OR July 13 – August 11* and will culminate in the Studio Showcase performance on Monday, August 3, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. OR Monday, August 10, 2020 at 7:00 p.m.** on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. This final presentation will combine Shakespearean scenes, soliloquies, and sonnets with original material generated by the students.
*In the event of production schedule changes, start dates will be pushed back to July 13. We should know prior to interviews.
**In the event of production schedule changes, the showcase date will be pushed back to August 10. We should know prior to interviews.
The Pam Farr Summer Shakespeare Studio is generously supported by Pam Farr and Buford Alexander, with additional support from lead sponsors Terry Atkinson and Theatre Forward’s Educating Through Theatre Grant. Additional support is provided by Ann Davies Fund for Teaching Artists, The James Irvine Foundation, Qualcomm, and ResMed Foundation. This activity is funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. Financial support is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.
For the full press release on the Pam Farr Summer Shakespeare Studio Applications 2020, click here! For more information and how to apply to Pam Farr Summer Shakespeare Studio 2020, click here!
Photo: Students in Pam Farr Summer Shakespeare Studio, 2019. Photo by Rich Soublet II.
SAN DIEGO (January 10, 2020)—The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for the West Coast premiere of Hurricane Diane, the new unconventional, Obie Award–winning comedy from Pulitzer Prize finalist Madeleine George (The Sore Loser, The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence, Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England). Directed by James Vásquez (the Globe’s Tiny Beautiful Things, the world premiere of American Mariachi, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!,upcoming Hair), Hurricane Diane will run February 8 – March 8, 2020in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run February 8–12. Opening night is Thursday, February 13 at 8:00 p.m. Single tickets on sale now, starting at $30.00, and can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE [234-5623], or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.
This unconventional new comedy from Pulitzer Prize finalist Madeleine George sees the Greek god Dionysus return to the modern world disguised as the butch gardener Diane, whose secret mission is to seduce mortal followers and restore the earth to its natural state. Where better to begin than with four real housewives from New Jersey? The New York Times cheered Hurricane Diane as an “astonishing new play,” and New York magazine hailed it as “hilarious and full of keen observation and profound human affection.”
“Playwright Madeleine George swirls together a number of unlikely ingredients to make this remarkable play,” said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “She combines an ancient Greek play, the terrors of climate change, and the reality TV world of the various Real Housewives, and then adds a dollop of LGBTQ pulp fiction. The result is a funny and serious work about Mother Nature and human nature, and about the wild and crazy dilemmas that arise as each of us figures out how to respond to a changing natural environment. James Vásquez and a company of brilliant comediennes conjure a vivid theatrical storm that I’m thrilled to share with San Diego.”
For the full press release on Hurricane Diane, click here! For the Hurricane Diane press page, click here! To buy tickets to Hurricane Diane, click here!
Artwork courtesy of The Old Globe.
SAN DIEGO (December 19, 2019)—The Old Globe today announced it will present the seventh annual Powers New Voices Festival, a weekend of readings of new American plays by some of the most exciting voices writing for the American theatre today, playing January 10–12, 2020. Playwrights include Chad Beckim, Jiréh Breon Holder, Tony Meneses, and Karen Zacarías; directors include Shelley Butler, Edward Torres, and James Vásquez.
The Festival kicks off on Friday, January 10 at 7:30 p.m. with Celebrating Community Voices, an evening of short works created by San Diego residents through the Globe’s arts engagement programs Community Voices and coLAB. These readings include Codeswitchin’ Is Conscious by Andréa Agosto, Pussycats by Thelma Virata de Castro, Tune Up by Tim Cole, The Mojave by Jaime Estepa, Transit Stop by Jordan Jacobo, When the Sun Dies by Melanie Taing,and Courtesan Way by Zakiyyah Saleem. All of the readings will be directed by Gerardo Flores Tonella and Katherine Harroff. The Community Voices and coLAB initiatives are play-development workshops that provide professional theatre-making skills to select San Diego communities. This evening is a curated collection of some of the best short scripts developed in these programs.
The readings by professional playwrights commence on Saturday, January 11 at 4:00 p.m. with El Borracho by Tony Meneses (Guadalupe in the Guest Room, The Women of Padilla, twenty50, and The Hombres), directed by Edward Torres (the Globe’s Familiar, Native Gardens, Water by the Spoonful, 2017 PNVF What You Are; award-winning world premiere of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity). Raul is sick. He drinks, because he always drinks, just like “el borracho” on the loteria card. In his final months, Raul is forced to move in with his ex-wife Alma, who now has to care for the man she thought she’d never have to see again, and his son David, who has secrets he’s longing to share. Tony Meneses’s compelling tragicomedy follows one family’s journey to come together so they can finally say goodbye.
It will be followed at 7:30 p.m. by Nothing Gold Can Stay by Chad Beckim (The Main(e) Play, That Men Do, Mercy, and After), directed by Shelley Butler (the world premiere of A Doll’s House, Part 2 at South Coast Repertory, The Magician’s Daughter at Geva Theatre Center, Wrecked at Contemporary American Theater Festival). Clay and Jess have big dreams: college, refuge from the cold Maine winters, and a permanent escape from the paycheck-to-paycheck, rent-a-center-furniture lifestyle of their parents. When Jess finds herself temporarily stuck behind and at odds with her stepfather, she moves in with Clay’s mom and begrudgingly takes a job at the local chicken farm. Meanwhile Clay heads off to college, counting down the days to his return, desperate to avoid the destiny of his geography. Nothing Gold Can Stay is a love story for the opioid era.
The Festival continues on Sunday, January 12 at 4:00 p.m. with the Globe-commissioned Age of Innocence by one of the most-produced playwrights in the U.S, Karen Zacarías (the Globe’s Native Gardens, The Copper Children premiering at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2020, Destiny of Desire premiered at South Coast Repertory and Goodman Theatre and continues to run regionally), directed by James Vásquez (the Globe’s American Mariachi, Tiny Beautiful Things, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, upcoming Hurricane Diane and Hair). In 1870s New York City, handsome lawyer Newland Archer satisfies everyone's expectations when he becomes engaged to the sweet debutante May Welland. But when May's older cousin arrives, her determination to live life on her own terms will make Newland question everything he believes to be true. Based on Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize–winning book, Karen Zacarías’s fresh new adaptation uses lush language and dynamic theatricality to examine the ways desire must negotiate the complex rules of society.
The Festival wraps up that evening at 7:30 p.m. with the Globe-commissioned Shutter Sisters by Jiréh Breon Holder (Too Heavy for Your Pocket in the 2018 PNVF, ...what the end will be upcoming at Roundabout Theatre Company, “New Amsterdam”), directed by Shelley Butler (see above). Shutter Sisters tells the story of two women living parallel lives on the hardest days of their lives. A white woman named Michael attends her adopted mother’s funeral, while a black woman named Mykal kicks her adult daughter out of her home. A heartfelt and surprising journey through womanhood, identity, and what it means to belong.
“This year’s installment of the Powers New Voices Festival is very exciting,” said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “Each of the four plays we will present in readings is fascinating in its own right, and taken together they present a remarkable glimpse of the vitality of today’s American stage. Two of the plays are Globe commissions that we are delighted to hear aloud for the first time. The four works cover a range of styles, genres, and themes, but they have in common a bracing commitment to the idea that the theatre is a powerful place to examine big questions, from the deeply personal to the most public. It’s a thrill to have four major writing talents with us, and to see their work side by side with the best that’s emerging from the local playwrights who participate in the Globe’s community-based writing programs. This combination is what makes our Festival unique, and I’m looking forward to bringing it all to our audience and its adventuresome appetite for the new.”
For the full press release on the Powers New Voices Festival 2020, click here! For the press page for the Powers New Voices Festival 2020, click here!
SAN DIEGO (December 17, 2019)—The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for August Wilson’s Jitney, directed by one of Wilson’s foremost interpreters, Ruben Santiago-Hudson (directed Jitney on Broadway, performed in Gem of the Ocean and Seven Guitars). The American master and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson (the American Century Cycle of 10 plays) had a close relationship with The Old Globe, where three of his plays premiered. This production of Jitney is produced by Erik Falkenstein and Ron Simons in association with Manhattan Theatre Club. The 2017 Tony Award winner for Best Revival of a Play will run January 18 – February 23, 2020 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Previews run January 18–22. Opening night is Thursday, January 23 at 8:00 p.m. Single tickets start at $30.00 and can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office.
A jitney is an unlicensed taxicab. Five tireless drivers in Pittsburgh’s Hill District fight for love, survival, and respect as the powers-that-be threaten to close down their garage in the name of neighborhood improvement. The Los Angeles Times recently proclaimed it a Critic’s Choice, saying, “This is an extraordinary company! A triumphant melding of acting and drama. Don’t make the mistake of skipping this one. It’s among the finest productions of a Wilson play I’ve seen.” The Washington Post calls Jitney “a consistently funny and absorbing evening,” while The Hollywood Reporter asks, “Is there a more accomplished living interpreter of the plays of August Wilson than Ruben Santiago-Hudson? The timing feels ideal to visit Wilson’s inimitably pulsating world with a peerless company of actors.”
“August Wilson was one of the giants of the American stage,” said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, “and he had a special relationship to The Old Globe, where three of his plays premiered. Jitney is a prime example of what makes his gift as a playwright so unique. A simple story of working Americans and their struggles and triumphs, it’s set against a huge canvas of national themes. Funny and touching and thought-provoking, Jitney is everything we want theatre to be. Ruben Santiago-Hudson, unquestionably the greatest interpreter of Wilson now at work, gives us a production that’s exhilarating and that demonstrates in every moment why it won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. It’s a real honor to have this work at the Globe, and I know our audience will embrace its excellence and theatrical power.”
The cast includes Broadway and Wilson veteran actors Francois Battiste as Booster (Bronx Bombers, Magic/Bird), Harvy Blanks as Shealy (Jitney, Roundabout’s Toni Stone, King Hedley II and Familiar regionally), Amari Cheatom as Youngblood (the Globe’s Skeleton Crew, On the Levee and The Book of Grace Off Broadway), Tony Award nominee Anthony Chisholm as Fielding (Radio Golf, Two Trains Running,and Gem of the Ocean, Hulu’s “Wu-Tang: An American Saga”), Brian D. Coats as Philmore (Jitney, The Brothers Paranormal Off Broadway, Marvel’s “Luke Cage”), Steven Anthony Jones as Becker (original cast of Negro Ensemble Company’s award-winning A Soldier’s Play), Nija Okoro as Rena (Blueprints to Freedom at La Jolla Playhouse, The Legend of Georgia McBride at Geffen Playhouse, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Mark Taper Forum), Keith Randolph Smith as Doub (Water by the Spoonful at the Globe, Jitney, American Psycho, King Hedley II, Fences, Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, Girl 6), and Ray Anthony Thomas as Turnbo (Jitney, The Crucible,and Race, Pulitzer Prize winners Water by the Spoonful and Between Riverside and Crazy).
The multiple-award-winning creative team includes David Gallo (Scenic Design), Toni-Leslie James (Costume Design), Jane Cox (Lighting Design), Darron L West and Charles Coes (Sound Design), Bill Sims Jr. (Original Music), Matthew Armentrout (Hair and Makeup Design), and Thomas Schall (Fight Direction), Caparelliotis Casting and Nancy Piccione (Broadway Casting), Laura Stanczyk (Additional Casting), Manhattan Theatre Club (Original Broadway Production), Maximum Entertainment Productions (General Manager), and SenovvA Inc. (Production Supervisor).
Just as Wilson’s original masterpieces enjoyed rolling premieres at The Old Globe and other regional theatres across the country, this production is sharing the glory in cities nationwide as well. The New York Times said of the 2017 revival, “How sweet the sound. And how sorrowful and jubilant, as life in a storefront taxi company in an African American neighborhood in Pittsburgh comes to feel like a free-form urban concerto, shaped by the quick-witted, improvisatory spirit that makes jazz soar… glorious production.” Entertainment Weekly raved “Grade: A! A gem of a play, both timely and timeless,” and added, “It’s like eavesdropping on an often funny, occasionally hostile, always honest discussion about race, urban development (or lack thereof), and relationships—between fathers and sons, men and women, coworkers and friends.”
For the full press release on August Wilson's Jitney, click here! For the August Wilson's Jitney press page, click here! To buy tickets to August Wilson's Jitney, click here!
Artwork courtesy of The Old Globe.
SAN DIEGO (December 6, 2019)—The Old Globe’s 2020 Summer Season brings to Balboa Park an extraordinarily talented group of artists who will delight audiences with their unique takes on four great works of theatre. The season incudes a classic American musical, a new adaptation of a 20th century thriller, and two of Shakespeare’s masterworks on our outdoor stage.
“The Globe’s 2020 summer lineup has something for everyone,” said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “Passionate and vivid, Hair has one of the great scores in the modern musical theatre, and tells a universal story of young people dreaming of a better world and daring to bring it to life. James Vásquez brings his special wit and energy to a bold new look at the show. Thrillers are one of my favorite genres in the theatre, and it’s been a while since the Globe has done one. Dial M for Murder is a masterpiece of the form, and in Jeffrey Hatcher’s new version, it makes for an exhilarating, white-knuckle night at the theatre. Shana Cooper has made the best The Taming of the Shrew I’ve ever seen: funny, smart, and surprising, and with a beguiling modern take that opens up the play in remarkable ways. And Daniel Sullivan, an American master who is arguably the most important Shakespeare director in our country, returns to the Globe to stage a play that is heart-poundingly exciting. Henry V is Shakespeare at his most electrifying. This is a season of shows that captures what makes theatre so unique and so much fun, and what makes the Globe the major American institution it is. Great stories about big ideas told by great artists: this is theatre that matters. I am thrilled to share it all with our audiences.”
The 2020 Summer Shakespeare Festival kicks off with director Shana Cooper’s daring and contemporary staging of Shakespeare’s masterful comedic take on the battle of the sexes, The Taming of the Shrew, which turns everything we think about love, marriage, and gender on its head. Performances will run June 14 through July 19, with opening night on Sunday, June 21, 2020. The Bard’s thrilling history play Henry V follows, under the aegis of one of the most important Shakespeare directors working today, Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan (The Old Globe’s Julius Caesar). This unflinching look at warfare and power is a rousing portrait of courage against all odds, and it will run August 11 through September 13, with opening night on Sunday, August 16, 2020. Both will play outdoors under the stars in the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre.
Indoors, the Age of Aquarius will dawn again with Hair, the American tribal love-rock musical, with book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado and music by Galt MacDermot. Directed by James Vásquez (the Globe’s American Mariachi, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and Tiny Beautiful Things) and choreographed by Rickey Tripp (associate choreographer for Choir Boy and Once on This Island; appeared in Broadway’s Hamilton, Motown The Musical, and In the Heights), performances of this legendary rock musical, with its Grammy Award–winning score, will run July 2 through August 9, with opening night on Friday, July 10, 2020, on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Prepare for thrills and chills with Dial M for Murder, a new version of the celebrated murder mystery by Frederick Knott (Wait Until Dark) that inspired Hitchcock’s masterpiece! Acclaimed playwright Jeffrey Hatcher (Scotland Road) brings us an edge-of-your-seat, Globe-commissioned world-premiere adaptation of this modern classic, directed in high style by Globe veteran Stafford Arima (the Globe’s Allegiance, Red Velvet) in our most intimate performance space. Performances will run July 25 through August 23, with opening night on Thursday, July 30, 2020, in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.
For the full press release on the Summer 2020 Season, click here! For the press page for the Summer 2020 Season, click here!
