The Old Globe

Shakespeare Fest Returns to Tandem Shows

San Diego's Old Globe will herald something new while going back to its past with its 2014 Summer Shakespeare Festival.
Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein will make his Summer Shakespeare Festival directorial debut with Shakespeare's tragedy Othello, which will play at the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre along with The Two Gentlemen of Verona helmed by Old Globe alumnus and renowned director Mark Lamos.

The 2014 Summer Shakespeare Festival will feature two separate productions, with distinct scenery and casts, each with its own separate run (Othello June 22–July 27, Two Gents Aug. 10–Sept. 14), a return to the Globe's outdoor theater's producing structure of 1988 to 2003 under then-Artistic Director Jack O'Brien. “By returning to two free-standing productions, our artists will be provided greater latitude in their responses to Shakespeare, encouraging them to take each play on its own terms, creating unique worlds with production designs that suit the individual plays," Edelstein said in a press release. "This approach will immerse audiences in these timeless stories and the singular visions these artists bring to them.”

“I am honored to be making my Old Globe Shakespeare Festival directorial debut, all the more so because I will do it alongside master Shakespearean director and Globe alumnus Mark Lamos, whose work I truly admire,” Edelstein said.

The Summer Season will also feature Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Tony Award–winning musical Into the Woods, which made its World Premiere at The Old Globe in 1986. The production, which originated at McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, N.J., is a reimagining by Fiasco Theater and directed by Noah Brody and Ben Steinfeld. Into the Woods will run July 12–Aug. 10 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage.

Rounding out the season is Ronald Harwood's comedy Quartet, directed by Richard Seer, playing in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre July 25–Aug. 24. Both the White Theatre and Shiley Stage are part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

“The Globe's own Richard Seer, whose elegant and light touch is beloved by our audience, is back taking the directorial reigns in our intimate in-the-round theater," Edelstein said. "And it's a special privilege to introduce to San Diego the brilliant artists of Fiasco Theater, who are in the first rank of the next generation of American theater giants. Their splendid work with Sondheim and Lapine's musical theater classic has magical appeal for our wide and diverse audiences. This production is another opportunity for families to share the experience of live theater together.”

Tickets to the Globe's 2014 Summer Season are currently available by subscription only; prices range from $92 to $332. Subscription packages may be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the box office.

December 6, 2013

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