Press Release: 2016-2017 Season Announcement

THE OLD GLOBE ANNOUNCES ITS 2016-2017 SEASON: 

Two Wildly Popular Globe Favorites, Steve Martin and Fiasco Theater, Return:
Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein directs Martin’s Comedy Hit PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE,
and Fiasco Theater presents a World Premiere Adaptation of Molière’s THE IMAGINARY INVALID, Commissioned by the Globe 

Nick Gandiello’s World Premiere Play THE BLAMELESS,
First Seen in a Reading at the Globe’s 2016 New Voices Festival

 The West Coast Premiere of 
PigPen Theatre Co.’s THE OLD MAN AND THE OLD MOON

Don’t Miss:
London’s Four-Star Smash, Lolita Chakrabarti's RED VELVET,
Current Off Broadway hit, Dominique Morisseau’s SKELETON CREW, 
Benjamin Scheuer’s Rock ’N’ Roll Journey THE LION, 
and the Previously Announced West Coast Premiere Musical 
OCTOBER SKY, Inspired by the Beloved 1999 Movie

Shakespeare at the Globe and in the Community: 
Globe for All’s MEASURE FOR MEASURE and 
the M.F.A. Program’s THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

San Diego’s Favorite Holiday Tradition
DR. SEUSS’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! 
Now in Its 19th Year of Delighting Audiences of All Ages!

SAN DIEGO (April 29, 2016; updated November 2, 2016)—The Old Globe today shared its 2016-2017 Season, including world and West Coast premieres, second looks, comic favorites, plays with music, classics—and, of course, Shakespeare and the Mean Old Grinch return again too!

Following the Broadway and Kennedy Center successes of 2014’s Globe-premiered Bright Star, Steve Martin returns with his clever and crowd-pleasing comedy hit, Picasso at the Lapine Agile. Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, who previously staged Martin’s The Underpants and WASP and Other Plays, will continue their creative relationship here at the Globe. The Lapin Agile, beloved watering hole to struggling artists and would-be geniuses, welcomes Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein, who spar with the regulars and each other about art, science, inspiration, love, and the promise of the 20th century. Brilliant and witty, it runs February 4 – March 12, 2017.

Fiasco Theater delighted Globe audiences in 2014 with their reinvented Into the Woods, and the Globe has now commissioned a world premiere from these acclaimed artists, whom The New York Times called “a force to reckon with in American theater.” This adaptation takes on Molière and his outrageously funny masterpiece The Imaginary Invalid. Hypochondriac Argan wants his daughter to marry a doctor so he can save on his medical bills—but she’s in love with someone else. The madcap scheme to save true love runs May 27 – June 25, 2017, and will have you in stitches.

A second Globe world premiere, this one developed in the 2016 New Voices Festival, Nick Gandiello’s The Blamelessis a compassionate and moving look at the power of familial bonds in the most extraordinary of circumstances. Director Gaye Taylor Upchurch (Bethany and The Last Match) returns to the Globe to helm this world premiere look at love, family, and hope, running February 23 – March 26, 2017.

The endlessly imaginative PigPen Theatre Co. spins a fantastical fable for all ages in the West Coast premiere of The Old Man and The Old Moon. Co-directed by Stuart Carden and PigPen Theatre Co., it combines their signature shadow puppetry, indie-folk music, exuberant energy, and array of ever-changing characters. The Old Man tends to The Old Moon, refilling the light that spills out every night. When his wife unexpectedly leaves home, he journeys across land, air, and sea to remind her—and us—of the unwavering power of love. New York magazine said PigPen shows us “how unapologetically and unpretentiously playful theater can be.” It plays May 13 – June 18, 2017.

Lolita Chakrabarti’s stirring drama Red Velvet transports audiences to the turbulent backstage world of London’s Theatre Royal in the early 1800s, with the fascinating true story of a young black American actor whose groundbreaking performance in Othello upends stage tradition and changes the lives of everyone involved. Visionary director Rachel Chavkin (The Royale and Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812) returns to the Globe with a stunningly theatrical production. The London Telegraph called this multi-award-winning play “informative, entertaining, and thought-provoking.” Helmed by in-demand director Stafford Arima (Allegiance), the play runs March 25 – April 30, 2017.

Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau is currently a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist, and will be directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, 2015 Craig Noel Award winner for Director of the Year, making her Globe debut.Times are tough in 2008 Detroit, but there’s still one working auto plant. Faye holds everyone together, but months away from retiring, she’s torn between self-preservation and allegiance to her coworkers. Skeleton Crew, which The New York Times called “a deeply moral and deeply American play ... squarely in the tradition of Arthur Miller,” is presented in association with MOXIE Theatre and runs April 8 – May 7, 2017.

Award-winning songwriter Benjamin Scheuer inspires and disarms with his raw wit and emotional depth in The Lion. Scheuer leads you on a rock ’n’ roll journey from boyhood to manhood, through pain and healing, to discover the redemptive power of music. NY Daily News called The Lion “an irresistible winner!” Directed by Sean Daniels, it runs September 29 – October 30, 2016.

The Old Globe’s 2016-2017 Season launches into orbit with the previously announced West Coast premiere of October Sky. The beloved film is now a triumphant new American musical that will send your heart soaring and inspire your whole family to reach for the stars. October Sky features a book by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Marsha Norman and Aaron Thielen, and music and lyrics by Joseph Jefferson Award winner Michael Mahler. It is directed and choreographed by Joseph Jefferson Award winner Rachel Rockwell and produced in association with Universal Stage Productions. This uplifting musical portrait of small-town Americana packed with youthful exuberance, and a sweeping, unforgettable new score runs September 10 – October 23, 2016.

Also returning November 1 – November 20, in its third year on the annual roster, is our Globe for All program, touring Shakespeare to the San Diego community. The searing comedy Measure for Measureis set in a decadent Vienna, where strict Angelo meets a young nun pleading for the life of her brother as justice, lust, hypocrisy, and redemption collide. Acclaimed director Patricia McGregor makes her Globe debut. Globe for All presents professional Shakespeare to diverse, multigenerational audiences in locations around San Diego County. Over the past two years, Globe for All has performed in military bases, homeless shelters, centers for the elderly, correctional facilities, and other community venues for nearly 2,200 audience members, many seeing theatre—and Shakespeare—for the first time. In addition to this year’s 20-stop tour, Globe for All will play at The Old Globe for two low-cost performances.

Our annual The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program production is one of Shakespeare’s most delightful comedies, The Two Gentlemen of Verona.This exuberant tale of friendship, young love, and secret identities features an unforgettable cast of characters. It is directed by Richard Seer and runs November 12 – 20, 2016. A joint venture of the Globe and USD, the Shiley Graduate Theatre Program trains seven select students in an intensive two-year course of graduate study in classical theatre. Private funding for the Master of Fine Arts in Theatre program has been contributed through a generous endowment established by Donald and Darlene Shiley. Additional support for the program is provided by the Dorothy Brown Endowment Fund and the Louis Yager Cantwell Foundation.

The 2016-2017 Season will also welcome everyone’s favorite Green Meanie back at the Globe November 5 – December 26, 2016 (with an additional week once again), to delight San Diego families for its 19th joyous year! Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!is a wonderful, whimsical musical based upon the classic Dr. Seuss book. As in years past, The Grinch will be performed on Saturday, December 10, for children on the autism spectrum and their families, as well as other families with special needs that may appreciate the welcoming and supportive environment this performance provides.

 “I’m very excited for The Old Globe’s 2016-17 Season,” said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “There’s a huge range of material here: musicals and dramas, the comic and the serious, revivals and world premieres, ensemble-created work and a solo show, celebrations of theatre history and plays that relate directly to today’s world. Our great city and our large and open-minded audience will find many extraordinary evenings of theatre on our stages and in the community, and I’m thrilled to share them. I’m also extremely proud to welcome the very best talent from around the country and right here in San Diego—artists at the top of their game in every theatrical discipline—to make work at the highest possible level of artistic achievement. I’m proud to note the increased diversity in those artistic ranks, as well as expanded opportunities for new and underserved audiences to engage with the Globe’s work. All in all, this is a season that embodies the best of what The Old Globe can be, and one that will give audiences the widest sense of theatre art at its best.”

SEASON SUBSCRIPTIONS offer substantial savings with special subscriber benefits. Tickets to the Globe’s 2016-2017 Season are currently available by subscription only. Subscription packages 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. Subscriptions to the Globe’s 2016-2017 Season range from $107 to $674. Single tickets for most shows begin at $29. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors, military members, and groups of 10 or more.

LOCATION and PARKING INFORMATION: The Old Globe is located in San Diego’s Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. Through a special arrangement with the San Diego Zoo, Old Globe evening ticket-holders have the opportunity to pre-purchase valet parking in the Zoo's new employee parking structure. With a drop-off point just a short walk to the Globe, theatregoers may purchase fast, easy, convenient valet parking for just $20 per vehicle per evening. Pre-paid only, available only by phone through the Old Globe Box Office. Call Today: (619) 234-5623. For more information click here.

There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Guests may also be dropped off in front of the Mingei International Museum. The Balboa Park valet is also available during performances, located in front of the Japanese Friendship Garden. For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org. For directions and up-to-date information, please visit our Plan Your Visit page.

PLEASE NOTE: To look up online or GPS directions to The Old Globe, please do not use the Delivery Address above. There is only a 10-minute zone at that physical address. For GPS users, please click here for the map coordinates, and here for written directions to The Old Globe and nearby parking in Balboa Park.

Supporters of the Globe continue to enjoy more social opportunities as well. The foremost of these are the annual Globe Guilders Fashion Show and our Annual Gala. Celebrating Couture 2016, presented by Neiman Marcus, will take place on Monday, August 22, featuring top fashion designers Oscar de la Renta, Naeem Khan, Monique Lhuillier, and Carolina Herrera, at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina. The 2016 Globe Gala will take place on the Globe’s Copley Plaza on Saturday, September 24, co-chaired by Karen Cohn, Nina Doede, Laurie Mitchell, and Sheryl White.

2016-2017 SEASON CALENDAR: Rain (3/24-5/1), Constellations (4/9-5/8), Camp David (5/13-6/19), tokyo fish story (5/28-6/26), Macbeth (6/19-7/24), Sense and Sensibility (7/6-8/14), Meteor Shower (7/30-9/4), Love’s Labor’s Lost (8/14-9/18), October Sky (9/10-10/23), The Lion (9/29-10/30), Globe for All Measure for Measure (11/1-20), Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (11/5-12/26), M.F.A. The Two Gentlemen of Verona (11/12-20), Picasso at the Lapin Agile (2/4-3/12/2017), The Blameless (2/25-3/26), Red Velvet (3/25-4/30), Skeleton Crew (4/8-5/7), The Old Man and The Old Moon (5/13-6/18), The Imaginary Invalid (5/27-6/25)

PHOTO EDITORS: Digital images of The Old Globe’s productions are available on our Press Room page.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country’s leading professional regional theatres and has stood as San Diego’s flagship arts institution for over 80 years. Under the leadership of Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Michael G. Murphy, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theatre’s education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as the 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Bright Star, Allegiance, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,and the annual holiday musical Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.

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THE OLD GLOBE ~ 2016-2017 Season

Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, Old Globe Theatre, Conrad Prebys Theatre Center

September 10 – October 23, 2016 (Opening Night: September 22)

West Coast Premiere

October Sky 

Book by Marsha Norman and Aaron Thielen

Music and Lyrics by Michael Mahler

Directed by Rachel Rockwell

Inspired by the Universal Pictures film and Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam, Jr.

The beloved film is now a triumphant new American musical that will send you heart soaring and inspire your whole family to reach for the stars! In the small town of Coalwood, West Virginia, every young man’s future is in the coal mines, but after the launch of Sputnik in 1957, the world’s race to space inspires local highschooler Homer Hickam to dream of a different life. Against the wishes of his practical-minded father, he sets out on an unlikely quest to build his own rockets and light up the night sky. October Sky is an uplifting musical portrait of small-town Americana packed with youthful exuberance, and a sweeping, unforgettable new score.

Marsha Norman (Book) won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for her play ‘night, Mother and a Tony Award for the book to her musical The Secret Garden. Ms. Norman’s “Life Long Love” was featured in the Globe’s 2015 world premiere production of In Your Arms. She is Co-Chair, with Christopher Durang, of the Playwriting Program at The Juilliard School, and she teaches musical book-writing at Yale University. Her newest projects include the book for the musical King Kong and a play about trafficking and violence toward women worldwide. She won a Peabody Award for her work in television and has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation. She won the Margo Jones Award, the Sidney Kingsley Award, the William Inge Lifetime Achievement Award in Playwriting, and the Dramatists Guild Career Achievement Award. She writes and lectures frequently on playwriting and the musical book. She serves on the board of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She is a Founder and President of The Lilly Awards Foundation and serves on the Steering Committee of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Aaron Thielen (Book) is the Artistic Director at The Marriott Theatre in Chicago. He has long been an advocate for the creation of new musicals. Along with October Sky the Musical, which premiered at The Marriott Theatre in 2015, he and Michael Mahler wrote the award-winning musical Hero, which was produced at the Marriott and Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota. Mr. Thielen also adapted the 20th Century Fox film For the Boys. He was one of the creative forces in bringing the 2008 world premiere musical The Bowery Boys to The Marriott Theatre. He co-authored the award-winning All Night Strut!, A Fascinatin’ Rhythm,and Now and Forever: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber with Marc Robin.

Michael Mahler (Music and Lyrics) is the Chicago-based composer/lyricist of October Sky; Diary of a Wimpy Kid; Hero; Knute Rockne All-American; Wonderland, Alice’s Rock & Roll Adventure; How Can You Run with a Shell on Your Back?; and others. His songs have been featured in concerts and showcases across the globe, including the National Alliance for Musical Theatre Festival of New Musicals, the ASCAP/MAC Songwriters’ Showcase, and an evening at The Kennedy Center. He contributed additional lyrics to the Broadway-bound revival of Boublil and Schönberg’s Miss Saigon and served as the original English lyricist for La Révolution Française. His projects in development include Gravediggers’ Hamlet and an adaptation of The Secret of My Success. Mr. Mahler is also the recipient of the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work.

Rachel Rockwell (Director, Choreographer) is a multiple award-winning American theatre director, choreographer, and performer. Ms. Rockwell was named Best Director of 2010 by Chicago magazine and the 2012 Chicagoan of the Year in theatre by the Chicago Tribune. Some of her Chicago-area credits include Brigadoon (Goodman Theatre, Joseph Jefferson Awards for Best Production–Musical and Best Choreography), Enron (TimeLine Theatre Company), the world premiere of October Sky the Musical, 42nd Street, Shout!, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, A Christmas Carol, Disney’s High School Musical, Seussical, and The Wizard of Oz (The Marriott Theatre). Her further Chicago directing credits include Disney’s Mary Poppins, In the Heights, The Music Man, Annie, and Hair (Paramount Theatre); Billy Elliot: The Musical (Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Choreography), Sweeney Todd, Les Misérables, The Sound of Music (also recorded for the New York Public Library’s Theatre on Film and Tape Archive), Ragtime (Joseph Jefferson Awards for Best Production–Musical and Best Director–Musical), Oliver!, and Miss Saigon (Drury Lane Theatre); and the U.S. premiere of Ride the Cyclone, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Shrek The Musical, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Short Shakespeare! Romeo and Juliet, Short Shakespeare! The Taming of the Shrew, The Adventures of Pinocchio, and The Emperor’s New Clothes (Chicago Shakespeare Theater).As a performer, Ms. Rockwell appeared on Broadway in Mamma Mia! and in national tours of Mamma Mia! and Harold Prince’s Showboat.

Universal Stage Productions is the live theatre division of the world-famous motion picture studio. Universal’s record-breaking musical phenomenon Wicked recently celebrated its 12th smash-hit year on Broadway. With a national tour and multiple international productions, Wicked has been seen by more than 42 million people worldwide and has grossed over $4 billion dollars, making it one of the most successful theatrical ventures of all time. In 2008, Universal’s critically acclaimed musical adaptation of Billy Elliot opened on Broadway and went on to win 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical. Universal also produced the Tony-nominated Broadway production of Bring It On: The Musical and the acclaimed revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and will produce the Broadway premiere of Holiday Inn – The New Irving Berlin Musical at Studio 54 this fall with Roundabout Theatre Company.

November 5 – December 26, 2016 (Opening Night: November 10)

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Book and Lyrics by Timothy Mason

Music by Mel Marvin

Original Production Conceived and Directed by Jack O’Brien

Original Choreography by John DeLuca

Directed by James Vásquez

America’s favorite holiday fable returns for its 19th joyous year, and we’ve added a week!

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a wonderful, whimsical musical based upon the classic Dr. Seuss book. Back for its 19th incredible year, the family favorite features the songs “This Time of Year,” “Santa for a Day” and “Fah Who Doraze,” the delightful carol from the popular animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Celebrate the holidays as the Old Globe Theatre is once again transformed into the snow-covered Whoville, right down to the last can of Who-hash.

As in years past, The Grinch will be performed for children on the autism spectrum and their families, as well as other families with special needs that may appreciate the welcoming and supportive environment this performance provides (date tbd).

James Vásquez (Director) has previously worked at The Old Globe directing Rich Girl, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!,and Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show; serving as Associate Director of Jane Austen’s Emma – A Musical Romantic Comedy; and providing musical staging for Boeing-Boeing and the 2013 Shakespeare Festival production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He received San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award nominations for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for the world premiere of Harmony, Kansas and the West Coast premiere of [title of show] (Diversionary Theatre) and won the award in 2010 for Sweeney Todd (Cygnet Theatre Company). His other recent directing/choreography credits include West Side Story and Cats (San Diego Musical Theatre), Marry Me a Little, Birds of a Feather, Pippin, and Next Fall (Diversionary), and Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Little Shop of Horrors (Cygnet), as well as developmental workshops at La Jolla Playhouse and Goodspeed Musicals. In 2004, Mr. Vásquez founded Daisy 3 Pictures with Mark Holmes and Carrie Preston. Their first two feature films, 29th and Gay (TLA Releasing, Here TV) and Ready? OK! (Wolfe Video, LOGO), have played national and international film festivals, with Ready? OK! winning Best Feature Film awards in Seattle, North Carolina, and San Diego. Their latest feature film, That’s What She Said, starring Anne Heche, made its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Mr. Vásquez is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

February 4 – March 12, 2017 (Opening Night: February 9)

Picasso at the Lapin Agile

By Steve Martin

Directed by Barry Edelstein

Steve Martin continues his creative relationship with The Old Globe, returning for the third time with this clever and crowd-pleasing comedy hit. Paris, 1904: The Lapin Agile, beloved watering hole to struggling artists and would-be geniuses, welcomes two soon-to-be legends for one extraordinary night. Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein, whose egos are as big as their intellects, spar with the regulars and each other about art, science, inspiration, love, and the promise of the 20th century. Throw into this mix a mysterious visitor with a penchant for blue suede shoes, and you’re in for a brilliant and witty evening in the theatre.

Steve Martin (Playwright) is one of the most well-known and pervasive talents in entertainment. His work has earned him an Academy Award, five Grammy Awards (two for comedy, three for music), an Emmy Award, the Mark Twain Prize, and the Kennedy Center Honor. Mr. Martin’s films are widely popular successes, such as The Jerk (1979, also screenplay), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), Roxanne (1987, also screenplay), Parenthood (1989), L.A. Story (1991, also screenplay), Father of the Bride (1991), and Bowfinger (1999, also screenplay). As an author, Mr. Martin’s work includes the plays Picasso at the Lapin Agile and The Underpants, the best-selling novella Shopgirl, and his memoir Born Standing Up. Also an accomplished banjoist, Mr. Martin released his third full-length album, Love Has Come For You, in 2013 with songwriter Edie Brickell. The album won a Grammy for Best American Roots Song and inspired the musical Bright Star (music, book, original story), which premiered at The Old Globe in 2014 and went on to productions at The Kennedy Center and on Broadway. The duo’s second album, So Familiar, is out now and features 12 new songs that bring the duo’s musical collaboration into fresh creative territory.

Barry Edelstein (Director, 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), Mr. 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. Mr. 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. Mr. 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.

March 25 – April 30, 2017 (Opening Night: March 30)

Red Velvet

By Lolita Chakrabarti

Directed by Stafford Arima

This stirring drama transports audiences to the turbulent backstage world of London’s Theatre Royal in the early 1800s. Edmund Kean, the greatest actor of his generation, can’t go on tonight as Othello, and his company is in disarray. A young American actor named Ira Aldridge arrives to step into the role—but no black man has ever played Othello on the English stage. His groundbreaking performance upends stage tradition and changes the lives of everyone involved. Lolita Chakrabarti’s multi-award-winning play uncovers the fascinating true story of a pivotal figure in theatre history. In-demand director Stafford Arima (Allegiance) returns to The Old Globe with a stunningly theatrical production of a play that the London Telegraph called “informative, entertaining, and thought-provoking.”

Lolita Chakrabarti (Playwright) is an award-winning actress and writer. Her debut play, Red Velvet, premiered in 2012 at Tricycle Theatre in London, where it returned in 2014 before transferring to St. Ann’s Warehouse in New York. In 2016 the play opened at the prestigious Garrick Theatre on London’s West End as part of Kenneth Branagh’s season of plays. Red Velvet garnered for Ms. Chakrabarti the 2012 Evening Standard Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright; 2012 Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright; 2013 Asian Women of Achievement Award for Arts & Culture; 2012 WhatsOnStage Award nominations for London Newcomer of the Year and Best New Play; and an 2012 Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. Red Velvet earned further rave reviews in its New York transfer. Ms. Chakrabarti also wrote Joy for Last Seen at Almeida Theatre and a five-part adaptation of The Goddess for BBC Radio 4. She runs Lesata Productions with Rosa Maggiora and Adrian Lester. They produced Of Mary, a short film directed by Mr. Lester, which won the Best Short Film Award at the 2012 Pan African Film Festival and was officially selected for the Raindance, Underwire, London Short, Montreal Black International, Independent Black Women’s, and Toronto Black Film Festival.

West Coast Premiere

May 13 – June 18, 2017 (Opening Night: May 18)

The Old Man and The Old Moon

By PigPen Theatre Co.

Directed by Stuart Carden and PigPen Theatre Co.

After award-winning runs in New York, Chicago, and Boston, the endlessly imaginative PigPen Theatre Co. arrives in San Diego with The Old Man and The Old Moon. Combining their signature cinematic shadow puppetry, wonderfully melodic indie-folk music, exuberant energy, and rollicking array of ever-changing characters, PigPen spins a fantastical fable for all ages. The Old Man tends to The Old Moon, refilling the light that spills out every night. When his wife unexpectedly leaves home, The Old Man abandons his post and plunges the world into darkness. His eventful journey across land, air, and sea to find her reminds them—and us—of the unwavering power of love. The New York Times declared that PigPen “asks us to appreciate the finer arts of wild storytelling while speaking to the childish mind in all of us,” and New York magazine said PigPen shows us “how unapologetically and unpretentiously playful theater can be.”

PigPen Theatre Co. (Creator, Co-Director, Ensemble) began creating their unique brand of theatre, music, and film as freshmen at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama in 2007. They have since produced their original plays in New York City and toured the country, earning them Critics’ Picks from The New York Times, Time Out New York, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, The Boston Globe, and many more, also ranking them in the Top 10 Theatrical Events of 2011, 2012, and 2013. They were the first group to win the New York International Fringe Festival’s top honor for a play two years in a row (2010 and 2011) and have gone on to win IRNE Awards (2012, 2015) and a Joseph Jefferson Award (2014) for their theatrical productions. In 2016, Sir Trevor Nunn invited PigPen to be a part of his first American acting company for a production of Shakespeare’s Pericles. PigPen’s debut album, Bremen, was named number 10 album of the year in The Huffington Post’s 2012 Grammy Awards preview, sending PigPen on tour playing concerts to sold-out crowds across the country. In 2015 PigPen released their sophomore album, Whole Sun, performed at Mumford & Sons’s return to the Gentlemen of the Road Festival, and made their feature film debut in Jonathan Demme’s Ricki and the Flash starring Meryl Streep.

Stuart Carden (Co-Director) was born and raised in Kentucky and is now a Chicagoan, and he is thrilled to direct at The Old Globe and reunite with PigPen Theatre Co. He began collaborating with PigPen on The Old Man and The Old Moon in 2012 and co-directed the productions at Writers Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The New Victory Theater, and ArtsEmerson. Mr. Carden works around the country directing and producing theatre, including five seasons at Writers Theatre in Chicago and two seasons at City Theatre in Pittsburgh as associate artistic director. His Chicago directing credits include Butler (Northlight Theatre), The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and Frederick (Chicago Children’s Theatre), Yellow Moon, Hesperia, and Travels with My Aunt (Writers Theatre), and Merchant on Venice, Golden Child, Then Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith, and Back of the Throat (Silk Road Rising). His regional directing credits include Tribes (Philadelphia Theatre Company, City Theatre), Oblivion, Blackbird, Mary’s Wedding, A Picasso, and The Moonlight Room (City Theatre), Circle Mirror Transformation, Crime and Punishment, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis). In fall 2016, Mr. Carden continues his collaboration with PigPen with the premiere of The Hunter and The Bear at Writers Theatre. He lives in the South Loop of Chicago with contemporary art curator Neysa Page-Lieberman and their twins Dashiell and Griffin. stuartcarden.org.

Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, Conrad Prebys Theatre Center

September 29 – October 30, 2016 (Opening Night: October 6)

The Lion

Written and Performed by Benjamin Scheuer

Directed by Sean Daniels

A good storyteller uses everything he has. So Benjamin Scheuer uses his guitar—actually, six guitars—in The Lion, a wholly original musical experience that tells one man’s gripping coming-of-age story. The award-winning songwriter inspires and disarms with his raw wit and emotional depth as he leads you on a rock ’n’ roll journey from boyhood to manhood, through pain and healing, to discover the redemptive power of music. The New York Daily News called The Lion “an irresistible winner!”

Benjamin Scheuer (Writer, Performer) is the recipient of the 2015 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and a 2015 Theatre World Award. The animated music videos for Mr. Scheuer’s songs “The Lion” and “Cookie-tin Banjo” have won prizes at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, British Animation Awards, Encounters Short Film Festival, Crystal Palace Overground Festival, and Buenos Aires’ ExpoToons International Animation Festival. Mr. Scheuer’s album Songs from The Lion will be released in 2016, along with animated videos for the songs “Weather the Storm” and “Cure.” With photographer Riya Lerner, Mr. Scheuer is co-creator of the art book Between Two Spaces, 50 percent of proceeds from which go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Mr. Scheuer has toured with Mary Chapin Carpenter and has performed at venues including Royal Albert Hall in London and Lincoln Center in New York. He has been a writer-in-residence at Goodspeed Musicals, Weston Playhouse, and the Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project, and he has been commissioned by Williamstown Theatre Festival. Mr. Scheuer lives in New York City. The Lion is on tour through February 2017. BenjaminScheuer.com, BetweenTwoSpaces.com, @BenjaminScheuer.

Sean Daniels (Director) has directed at Manhattan Theatre Club, The Kennedy Center, St. James Theatre on the West End, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geva Theatre Center, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Cleveland Play House, Alliance Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Portland Center Stage, Southern Rep, Swine Palace, The Neo-Futurists, Aurora Theatre Company, Crowded Fire Theater, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He is the Artistic Director of Merrimack Repertory Theatre and an Artist-At-Large for Geva Theatre Center. Previously he spent several years at the Tony Award-winning Actors Theatre of Louisville as Associate Artistic Director and at California Shakespeare Theater as Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director. Before that he spent a decade as the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Dad’s Garage Theatre Company in Atlanta. @seandaniels.

World Premiere

February 23 – March 26, 2017 (Opening Night: March 2)

The Blameless

By Nick Gandiello

Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch

Developed in The Old Globe’s 2016 New Voices Festival, The Blameless is a compassionate and moving look at the power of familial bonds in the most extraordinary of circumstances. The boisterous Garcia family has always tackled their days with warmth, humor, and tough love. But today is no ordinary day. Struggling to recover from a painful event in their past, they must find a way to hold everything together as they welcome to dinner the one man who might help them heal—or reopen their wounds. Gaye Taylor Upchurch (Bethany and The Last Match) returns to the Globe to helm this world premiere look at love, family, and hope.

Nick Gandiello (Playwright) is a playwright, screenwriter, and teaching artist based in New York. His plays include Oceanside (Merrimack Repertory Theatre), The Wedge Horse (Fault Line Theatre), The Blameless (Manhattan Theatre Club Reading Series, Ojai Playwrights Conference), Sunrise Highway (Ojai Playwrights Conference), Black Fly Spring (Xavier University), Swept (Williamstown Theatre Festival), At the Finish (Smith and Kraus’s The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2014), and Teeming Shore (The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2015). Mr. Gandiello was the 2015 Page 73 Productions Playwriting Fellow and is the winner of the 2016 Marin Theatre Company David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize. He is an alumnus of the Ars Nova Play Group. His work has been developed or presented by Samuel French’s Off Off Broadway Festival, Capital Stage, Premiere Stages, and Wide Eyed Productions, among others. For the screen, he developed and shot a television pilot, “Substance,” with Ready Set Go! Productions. Mr. Gandiello was the Literary Manager of Young Playwrights Inc. from 2012 to 2015 and is the Associate Artistic Director of Writopia Lab’s 2016 Worldwide Plays Festival. He received his M.F.A. from The New School for Drama.

Gaye Taylor Upchurch (Director) made her Globe debut in 2014 directing Laura Marks’s Bethany, and earlier this year she directed Anna Ziegler’s The Last Match. Ms. Upchurch has directed the Off Broadway productions of Nancy Harris’s Our New Girl and Simon Stephens’s Harper Regan and Bluebird with Simon Russell Beale (Atlantic Theater Company), Bethany (Women’s Project Theater, Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Play), and Lucy Thurber’s Stay (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Obie Award for the play cycle The Hill Town Plays). Regionally Ms. Upchurch directed the world premieres of Clare Lizzimore’s Animal (The Studio Theatre, Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Play) and Melissa Ross’s Of Good Stock (South Coast Repertory), and at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival she directed An Iliad (also at West Point) and is directing As You Like It. Ms. Upchurch has developed new work at New Dramatists, New York Stage and Film, The Kennedy Center, Playwrights’ Center, and SPACE on Ryder Farm. She is an alumna of the Women’s Project Theater Directors Lab, The Drama League, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

April 8 – May 7, 2017 (Opening Night: April 13)

Skeleton Crew

By Dominique Morisseau

Directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg

In Association with MOXIE Theatre

Times are tough in 2008 Detroit, but there’s still one working auto plant. The long hours and demanding shifts have turned the line workers into a family. The firm, compassionate Faye holds them together, and she’s only months away from retiring with her full pension. But when she discovers that management has a new plan, she’s torn between self-preservation and allegiance to her coworkers. Ben Brantley of The New York Times called Skeleton Crew “a deeply moral and deeply American play ... squarely in the tradition of Arthur Miller.” 2015 Craig Noel Award winner for Director of the Year Delicia Turner Sonnenberg makes her Globe debut.

Dominique Morisseau (Playwright), a playwright and actress, is an alumna of The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group, Women’s Project Theater’s Playwrights Lab, and Lark Playwrights’ Workshop. Her credits include Skeleton Crew (Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, BareBones at Lark Play Development Center, Scott Rudin Productions at Atlantic Theater Company), Detroit ’67 (The Public Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem/National Black Theatre), Sunset Baby (Gate Theatre, LAByrinth Theater Company), and Follow Me to Nellie’s (The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Premiere Stages). She has produced other original works with the Hip-Hop Theater Festival, Penn State University, The American Theatre of Harlem, and The New Group. Her three-play cycle, entitled The Detroit Projects,includes Detroit ’67, Paradise Blue, and Skeleton Crew. Paradise Blue premiered at Williamstown Theatre Festival in July 2015 starring Blair Underwood and directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Ms. Morisseau is currently the story editor on the Showtime series “Shameless.” Her awards include a Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, two NAACP Image Awards, Primus Prize commendation, Stavis Playwriting Award, Spirit of Detroit Award, University of Michigan Emerging Leader Award, Weissberger Award, PoNY Fellowship, Sky Cooper New American Play Prize, Graham F. Smith Peace Foundation Award, and the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama.

Delicia Turner Sonnenberg (Director) is the founding Artistic Director of MOXIE Theatre, where she has directed many acclaimed productions. She has also directed for San Diego Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Cygnet Theatre Company, Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company, New Village Arts, Diversionary Theatre, ion theatre company, and Playwrights Project. Her honors include the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle 2015 Director of the Year Award, Theatre Communications Group’s New Generations Program fellowship, San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Awards, a Women’s International Center Living Legacy Award, Van Lier Fund fellowship (Second Stage Theatre), and the New York Drama League’s Directors Project.

World Premiere

May 27 – June 25, 2017 (Opening Night: June 1)

The Imaginary Invalid

By Molière

Adapted by Fiasco Theater

Directed by tbd

The acclaimed artists of Fiasco Theater are back! Fiasco delighted Globe audiences with their reinvented Into the Woods, and now they take on one of the greatest comedy writers of all time: Molière. In the outrageously funny masterpiece The Imaginary Invalid, the hypochondriac Argan wants his daughter to marry a doctor so he can save on his medical bills. But she’s in love with someone else. Soon the whole household joins in her madcap scheme to save true love and give Argan’s doctors a dose of their own medicine. This Globe-commissioned world premiere adaptation will have you in stitches. The New York Times called Fiasco “a force to reckon with in American theater.”

Fiasco Theater (Adaptation) is an ensemble theatre company created by graduates of the Brown University/Trinity Rep M.F.A. Acting Program. Past shows include Into the Woods (The Old Globe, McCarter Theatre Center, Roundabout Theatre Company), Cymbeline (Theatre for a New Audience, Barrow Street Theatre), Twelfth Night (Access Theater), Measure for Measure (The New Victory Theater, Long Wharf Theatre), and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Folger Theatre, Theatre for a New Audience). Cymbeline was presented Off Broadway twice, for nearly 200 performances, and was honored with the Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Play Revival in 2012. In 2015 Into the Woods won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival and the Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical Revival. Into the Woods will travel to London in summer 2016 to Menier Chocolate Factory and will begin a U.S. national tour at the end of 2016. Fiasco Theater has been in residence with Roundabout Theatre Company, Theatre for a New Audience, Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, New Victory LabWorks, NYU Gallatin, Duke University, Marquette University, and Louisiana State University. Their work has been developed at SPACE on Ryder Farm, the Orchard Project, and The Shakespeare Society, and they have led master classes at Brown University and New York University. Since 2008, Fiasco Theater has annually offered the Free Training Initiative: a conservatory-level classical acting intensive for professional actors, completely free of charge to students. fiascotheater.com.

Fiasco Theater’s production of The Imaginary Invalid has been developed in part with the assistance of residencies at Theatre for a New Audience.

Globe for All: Touring Shakespeare in the San Diego Community

November 1 – November 20, 2016    

Measure for Measure

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Patricia McGregor

Globe for All returns this year with Measure for Measure! Globe for All presents professional Shakespeare to diverse, multigenerational audiences in locations around San Diego County. Over the past two years, Globe for All has performed in military bases, homeless shelters, centers for the elderly, prisons, and other community venues for nearly 2,200 audience members, many seeing theatre—and Shakespeare—for the first time. In addition to this year’s 20-stop tour, Globe for All will play at The Old Globe for two low-cost performances.

The searing comedy Measure for Measure is set in a decadent Vienna, where strict Angelo wants to rid the city of moral decay. When he meets a young nun pleading for the life of her brother, things get complicated. Justice, lust, hypocrisy, and redemption take center stage along with a wild cast of characters in a bold staging of this timely classic. Acclaimed director Patricia McGregor makes her Globe debut.

Patricia McGregor (Director) has twice been profiled by The New York Times for her work on world premieres. Her recent credits include Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout Underground), brownsville song (b-side for tray) (LCT3), and the world premiere of Will Power’s Stagger Lee (Dallas Theater Center). Her other credits include A Raisin in the Sun, The Winter’s Tale,and Spunk (California Shakespeare Theater), Adoration of the Old Woman (INTAR Theatre), The House that will not Stand (Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre), The Mountaintop (Philadelphia Theatre Company), and the world premiere of Hurt Village (Signature Theatre Company). As Associate Director of Fela! on Broadway, she coached Patti LaBelle in the role of Funmilayo. Ms. McGregor has also worked at venues including New York Shakespeare Festival/Shakespeare in the Park, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Second Stage Theatre, The Public Theater, The Kitchen, The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and the Lincoln Center Institute. She co-founded Angela’s Pulse with her sister, choreographer Paloma McGregor. Angela’s Pulse creates vital choreoplays and fosters collaboration among artists, educators, organizers, academics, and other diverse communities. Ms. McGregor attended the Yale School of Drama, where she was a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow and Artistic Director of the Yale Cabaret.

The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program

November 12 – November 20, 2016 (Opening Night: November 12)

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Richard Seer

Best friends Valentine and Proteus find themselves both madly in love with the same woman. Will their friendship survive? One of Shakespeare’s most delightful comedies, The Two Gentlemen of Verona is an exuberant tale of friendship, young love, and secret identities, featuring a band of outlaws, two bumbling servants, and one unforgettable dog.

A joint venture of The Old Globe and the University of San Diego, the Shiley Graduate Theatre Program trains seven select students in an intensive two-year course of graduate study in classical theatre. Private funding for the Master of Fine Arts in Theatre program has been contributed through a generous endowment established by Donald and Darlene Shiley. Additional support for the program is provided by the Dorothy Brown Endowment Fund and the Louis Yager Cantwell Foundation.

Richard Seer (Director) is an award-winning director and actor who has directed and/or performed on Broadway, Off Broadway, on film and television, and in over 70 productions at regional theatres in this country and Great Britain, including The Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Goodman and Huntington Theatre Companies. He originated the role of Young Charlie in the 1978 Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Hugh Leonard’s Da and received the Theatre World Award for his performance. At The Old Globe, he has directed productions of Constellations, Quartet, Other Desert Cities, God of Carnage, Life of Riley, The Last Romance, The Price, Romeo and Juliet, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Trying, Fiction, Blue/Orange, All My Sons, Da,and Old Wicked Songs. He received his M.F.A. in directing from Boston University, where he was awarded the prestigious Kahn Directing Award. In 1990, Mr. Seer was invited to return to Boston University’s School for the Arts as an Associate Professor of Acting and Directing. He has been Director of the Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program since 1993 and is the University’s current Chair of Theatre. In 2010, he was awarded the Craig Noel Distinguished Professorship.

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