Old Globe Announces Classical Fellowship for Directors of Color

Executive Producer Lou Spisto today announced The Old Globe's Classical Fellowship for Directors of Color in partnership with The Drama League Directors Project. Now in its 27th year, the Directors Project is the country's leading career development program for emerging theater directors. Snehal Desai, an M.F.A. graduate of Yale School of Drama, will be the program's first Classical Fellow. Desai will be in residence at the Globe for four months to take part in the Globe's 2011 Shakespeare Festival and work with Festival Artistic Director Adrian Noble and Ron Daniels on their productions of The Tempest, Amadeus and Much Ado About Nothing. Desai will also instruct the high school student participants of the Globe's annual Summer Shakespeare Intensive and direct the students in a production of a Shakespeare play.

"We are delighted to partner with The Drama League in this inaugural year of the Classical Fellowship program," said Spisto. "Our Shakespeare Festival and summer conservatory will provide a unique experience for talented directors, and we will greatly benefit from their involvement with us as well."

Snehal Desai is a graduate of the M.F.A. Directing Program at Yale School of Drama and the founder of The Yale Southasian Theater Collective. His directorial works include Bertolt Brecht's Baal, an adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II, the world premiere of FOB: Fresh Off the Boeing, Good Egg, Booty Fire, Laura's Bush, Kander and Ebb's Cabaret and Jose Rivera's Marisol. He has assisted director Mark Lamos on Lulu and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice - A Musical Play and Les Waters on the Sarah Ruhl play Eurydice. He has worked on new plays by Robert Brustein, Robert O' Hara, Naomi Wallace, Arthur Kopit and Lisa Kron. In Atlanta, Desai has worked at Dada's Garage, Horizon Theatre Company, ALLIANCE THEATRE and Theater Emory. As a writer and performer, Desai has performed his first solo show, Finding Ways to Prove You're Not an Al-Qaeda Terrorist When You're Brown (and other stories of the Indian), to sold-out audiences in New Haven, New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia.

The 2011 Shakespeare Festival runs May 29 - Sept. 25 and begins the Globe's 76th year as San Diego's premier theatrical institution. Tickets to the Festival are currently available by subscription only. Single tickets will go on sale May 1. The Tempest runs June 5 - Sept. 25. Previews run June 5, 16, 17 and 18. Opening night is June 19. Much Ado About Nothing runs May 29 - Sept. 24. Previews run May 29 and June 25, 26 and 28. Opening night is June 29. Amadeus runs June 12 - Sept. 22. Previews run June 12, 21, 22 and 23. Opening night is June 24.

LOCATION: The Old Globe is located in San Diego's Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available ($10). For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org.

CALENDAR: Jane Austen's Emma - A Musical Romantic Comedy (1/15-3/6), Death of a Salesman (1/22-2/27), Groundswell (3/12-4/17), Rafta, Rafta... (3/19-4/24), August: Osage County (5/7-6/12), Life of Riley (4/30-6/5), Much Ado About Nothing (5/29-9/24), The Tempest (6/5-9/25), Amadeus (6/12-9/22).

Photo courtesy of The Old Globe.

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