The Old Globe
Three-stage theatre complex in Balboa Park, descended from a 1935 replica of Shakespeare's Globe.
The Old Globe began in 1935 as a simplified replica of Shakespeare's Globe built in Balboa Park for the California Pacific International Exposition, to a design by the exposition's architect Richard Requa. Intended as a temporary structure for abridged Shakespeare, it was saved by local subscription and became a permanent producing theatre. An arson attack destroyed the building in March 1978, and a new theatre, no longer an Elizabethan replica, opened on the site in 1982.
The organisation now runs three auditoriums: the 580-seat Old Globe Theatre with its Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre in the round, and the open-air Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, which seats about 620 among the eucalyptus trees. It stages a year-round programme of classics, new plays and musicals, runs a summer Shakespeare festival and an annual Christmas production of Dr Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and has sent a number of productions on to Broadway.
Highlights
- Three stages, including the open-air Lowell Davies Festival Theatre
- Founded in 1935 as a replica of Shakespeare's Globe for a world's fair
- Rebuilt in 1982 after the original was destroyed by arson
- Annual Christmas run of Dr Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas
