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BARRY EDELSTEIN (Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director) is a stage director, producer, author, and educator. Widely recognized as one of the leading American authorities on the works of Shakespeare, he has directed nearly half of the Bard’s plays. His Globe directing credits include The Winter’s Tale; Othello; the West Coast premiere of novelist Nathan Englander’s play The Twenty-seventh Man; and the world premiere of Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson’s musical Rain. He also directed All’s Well That Ends Well as the inaugural production of Globe for All, a new producing platform that tours the works of Shakespeare to diverse communities throughout San Diego County. 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 extensive 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 1998-2003 he was Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company. Edelstein’s other Shakespearean directorial credits include The Winter’s Tale at Classic Stage Company; As You Like It starring Gwyneth Paltrow; and Richard III starring John Turturro. Additional credits include the Lucille Lortel Award-winning revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons; the world premiere of Steve Martin’s The Underpants, which he commissioned; and Molière’s The Misanthrope starring Uma Thurman in her stage debut. Edelstein has taught Shakespearean acting at The Juilliard School, NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, and the University of Southern California. His book Thinking Shakespeare is the standard text on American Shakespearean acting. He is also the author of Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions.
TIMOTHY J. SHIELDS (Audrey S. Geisel Managing Director) is very pleased to have joined the ranks of the Globe’s staff in October of 2017. He brings to San Diego many decades of theatrical experience. Most recently, he was Managing Director at Princeton, New Jersey’s McCarter Theatre Center from 2009 to 2017. His professional experience includes serving as Managing Director at Milwaukee Repertory Theater for 10 years, and as Managing Director at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York, for six. He has 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. In service to the field, he was the President of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) for six years and was the Chair of the ArtPride NJ board. He has also served on the boards of Theatre Communications Group (Vice President), Milwaukee’s Latino Arts Board, the Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee, and Theatre Wisconsin (Founder/President). Over the years he has been a panelist, panel chair, and on-site reporter for the theatre program at the National Endowment for the Arts. He holds a B.F.A. in Drama Production from Carnegie-Mellon University in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
JACK O'BRIEN (Artistic Director Emeritus) served as the Artistic Director of The Old Globe from 1981 through 2007. Mr. O’Brien directed the 2014 Broadway revival of It’s Only a Play starring F. Murray Abraham, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Stockard Channing, and Megan Mullally. His Broadway credits also include: Macbeth with Ethan Hawke, The Nance, Dead Accounts, Catch Me If You Can, Impressionism, The Coast of Utopia (Tony Award), Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nomination), Henry IV (Tony Award), Hairspray (Tony Award), Imaginary Friends, The Invention of Love (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award), The Full Monty (Tony nomination), More to Love, Getting Away with Murder, Pride’s Crossing, The Little Foxes, Hapgood (Lucille Lortel Award, Best Director), Damn Yankees, Two Shakespearean Actors (Tony nomination), Porgy and Bess (Tony Award). Metropolitan Opera: II Trittico. London: Love Never Dies, Hairspray (Olivier nomination). National Theatre: His Girl Friday. Six movies for PBS’s “American Playhouse.” Awards: 2008 Theatre Hall of Fame Inductee, 2005 John Houseman Award, ArtServe Michigan 2008 International Achievement Award, Honorary Doctorate, University of Michigan. Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, University of San Diego. Film (actor): Sex and the City 2. Jack Be Nimble: The Accidental Education of an Unintentional Director, his memoir about the early years of his career, was released in the summer of 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
CRAIG NOEL (Founding Director) was born on August 25, 1915, and in 2015 The Old Globe celebrated the 100th birthday of this theatre legend who was instrumental in cultivating the San Diego arts community. Noel was first appointed director in 1939, directing 15 productions prior to World War II. Since then 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.
