Erna Finci Viterbi News

The Old Globe presents The Underpants, by the Globe's second-most-popular playwright-in-residence, Steve Martin.

Producers Lia Vollack, Joey Parnes, Sue Wagner, and John Johnson today announced the cast and creative team for Almost Famous, a world premiere musical with book and lyrics by Academy Award winner Cameron Crowe, based on his iconic film. Almost Famous, which will open the 2019-2020 Season at The Old Globe (Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Timothy J. Shields), is directed by Tony Award® nominee Jeremy Herrin and features original music and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize and two-time Tony Award winner Tom Kitt. Performances will run September 13 a?' October 20, with an official opening night on September 27.

As The Old Globe's 2019 Summer Shakespeare Festival continues, the theatre today announced the cast and creative team of the love-filled tragedy Romeo and Juliet. The Globe's Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein returns to direct the greatest love story of all time, after helming a smash-hit production of Othello and a sales-record-breaking production of Hamlet. Performances will run August 11 - September 15 outdoors under the stars in the Globe's Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. Tickets start at $30.00 and are on sale to the general public now. Previews run August 11-16, with opening night on Saturday, August 17, 2019 at 8:00 p.m.

The Old Globe today announced the complete company and creative team for the Pam Farr Summer Shakespeare Studio, named for the Globe Board member whose generosity supports a four-week program for rising 9th - 12th grade students and recent high school graduates to develop foundational skills for reading, interpreting, and performing Shakespeare's plays, and to cultivate their own artistic voice through storytelling and creating original material.

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team of a sparkling comedy in our summer season, The Underpants, by the Globe's second-most-popular playwright-in-residence, Steve Martin. Directed by multiple-award winner Walter Bobbie (Globe and Broadway's Bright Star, Broadway's Venus in Fur, Chicago) and adapted from Die Hose by Carl Sternheim, the play was originally commissioned by Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein when he ran New York's Classic Stage Company. This is the fourth Martin work in recent seasons at the Globe, from 2014's world premiere musical Bright Star, which went on to Broadway and five Tony Award nominations, to 2016's twice-extended, world-premiere comedy Meteor Shower, to 2017's smash-hit revival of Picasso at the Lapin Agile.

The Old Globe has received five California Arts Council grants for the work it is doing to make theatre matter to more people, to both support existing programs and expand into new areas.

For the third consecutive year, The Old Globe will participate in the George L. Stevens Senior Center's annual Juneteenth Celebration by presenting an original work developed through The Old Globe's arts engagement program coLAB: The Ruby in Us, with book and music written by Karen Ann Daniels, Director of the Mobile Unit at New York's Public Theater. Music for the piece was composed by Brandon Cerquedo, and language for the performance was collaboratively evolved in a workshop setting at the Center with the senior community that hosts the annual celebration. Award-winning director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg (Skeleton Crew at the Globe, Globe Classical Directing Fellow) returns to helm this wonderful program alongside lauded jazz musician, musical theatre favorite, and The Ruby in Us music director Leonard Patton.

The Old Globe announces cast and creative team as PigPen Theatre Co. returns with a world premiere musical: The Tale of Despereaux.

As the 2019 Summer Shakespeare Festival kicks off, The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team with As You Like It, the Bard's fabulously charming romantic comedy, whose heroine is one of his most remarkable creations. Director Jessica Stone's recent body of work-including Barefoot in the Park, Ken Ludwig's Robin Hood!, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and Arms and the Man-has had Globe audiences rolling in the aisles. Her Shakespearean directing debut will run June 16 - July 21, 2019 outdoors under the stars in the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. Tickets start at $30.00 and are on sale to the general public now. Previews run June 16-21 with opening night on Saturday, June 22, 2019 at 8:00 p.m.

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team for the world premiere of What You Are, a Globe-commissioned new play by JC Lee and the second show in the 2018-2019 Season developed in the Powers New Voices Festival. Directed by Patricia McGregor, What You Are will run May 30 - June 30, 2019 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run May 30 - June 5. Opening night is Thursday, June 6 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets start at $30.00 and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein today announced the appointment of Travis LeMont Ballenger as Associate Artistic Director. The Globe will have two people in this key position, as Ballenger joins Associate Artistic Director Justin Waldman, who has been at the Globe since 2011. Ballenger and Waldman will report jointly to Edelstein. Ballenger will assume his artistic duties at The Old Globe on May 1.

The Old Globe's 2019–2020 Season includes three world premieres, five West Coast premieres, and a Tony Award–winning production of an American masterwork.

As the Globe deepens its commitment to making theatre matter to more people, their work expands in service to the public good. The Globe today announced that its signature arts engagement program, Globe for All, will tour Laurel Ollstein's They Promised Her the Moon to four community venues this spring, following its West Coast premiere at the Globe's Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

The Old Globe today announced that the West Coast premiere of Laurel Ollstein's They Promised Her the Moon has been extended by popular demand and will run through May 12, 2019. The first of two shows in the 2018-2019 Season developed in the Globe's Powers New Voices Festival, it wowed Festival audiences with the story of the powerful forces that kept one woman from reaching orbit. Directed by Giovanna Sardelli (the Globe's The Whipping Man and Somewhere), They Promised Her the Moon runs April 6 - May 12, 2019 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run April 6-10. 

Theatre Forward and Chairman John Thomopoulos last night held its celebration to support American theatre at the annual Chairman's Awards Gala at The Pierre (2 East 61st Street). The Chairman's Awards Gala supports the work of Theatre Forward, which recently celebrated its 40th Anniversary season, and is dedicated to advancing American theatres and its communities through its Educating Through Theatre and Advancing Strong Theatre initiatives.

The Old Globe invites people of all ages from San Diego and beyond to join us once again in celebrating our resident playwright William Shakespeare with Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare! on Saturday, April 20 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on the Globe's campus in Balboa Park. The Bard's birthday-his 455th!-is a fitting and festive reason to recognize his countless contributions to arts and culture around the world. This exciting day for the whole family will include birthday games and activities, hosted by Globe Arts Engagement Programs Associate and Teaching Artist Damon J. Shearer.

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team as comic playwright Ken Ludwig, who delighted Globe audiences with Robin Hood! and Baskerville, returns with a hilarious world premiere: Ken Ludwig's The Gods of Comedy, directed by Amanda Dehnert (West Side Story at Carnegie Hall, world premieres of Kate Hamill's Pride and Prejudice and Ludwig's Baskerville). Presented in association with McCarter Theatre Center, The Gods of Comedy will run May 11 - June 16, 2019 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, Old Globe Theatre, Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, opening on May 16. Single tickets start at $30.00 and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1362 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Performances at McCarter Theatre Center ran March 12 - 31, 2019.

The Old Globe presents the U.S. premiere of Life After, a rapturously beautiful and stirring new musical withbook, music, and lyrics by Britta Johnson, directed by the Globe's own Barry Edelstein, opening Friday, March 29 at 8:00 p.m. Withchoreography by Ann Yee and music supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations by Lynne Shankel, Life After will run March 22 - April 28, 2019 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run March 22-28. Life After is produced by special arrangement with Yonge Street Theatricals, Linda Barnett, and Natalie Bartello. Single tickets start at $32.00 and are now on sale. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

The Old Globe today released a first look at "Poetry" from the U.S. premiere of Life After, with vocals by Sophie Hearn and written and played by Britta Johnson. Performances begin this Friday, March 22 at 8:00 p.m.! Please feel free to share it with all!

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team for the West Coast premiere of Laurel Ollstein's They Promised Her the Moon. The first of two shows in the 2018-2019 Globe Season developed in the Globe's Powers New Voices Festival, it wowed Festival audiences with the story of the powerful forces that kept one woman from reaching orbit. Directed by Giovanna Sardelli, They Promised Her the Moon will run April 6 - May 5, 2019 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run April 6-10. Opening night is Thursday, April 11 at 8:00 p.m. Single tickets start at $30.00 and are now on sale. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. They Promised Her the Moon will also have a short Globe for All Spring tour to several of our Community Partner venues following performances at the Globe, details to be announced shortly.