Old Globe Theatre

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The Old Globe Theatre, located in San Diego, California, produces about 15 plays and musicals annually, including Shakespeare, in summer and winter seasons. Plays are performed in three separate theatres in the complex, called the Simon Edison Centre for the Performing Arts:

Old Globe Theatre — 518-seat flagship theatre, fully-enclosed
Cassius Carter Centre Stage — 225-seat intimate theatre-in-the-round
Lowell Davies Festival Theatre — 615-seat outdoor theatre

[edit] History

The Old Globe Theatre was built in 1935 as part of the California Pacific International Exposition. The theatre was a copy of one built for the Chicago Century of Progress, which in turn was supposedly a copy of the Globe Theatre in London England. The theatre was open in the center with a roof over the seating on the sides.

During the expo, it hosted 50-minute versions of Shakespeare plays. At the end of the expo, the Globe had been received so well that a committee formed to save the temporary structure from demolition. Full-length plays were produced, and a more permanent structure was created by bringing the theatre up to code.

In 1949, the Old Globe Theatre launched what is now its summer Shakespeare Festival. The Cassius Carter Centre Stage was added in 1969, remodeled from the Falstaff Tavern restaurant.

In 1978 the Old Globe was destroyed by arson. It was rebuilt thanks to a community fundraising campaign. During reconstruction, a temporary outdoor theatre was built. In 1984, it succumbed to arson and was also rebuilt, and is now named the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. The entire theatre complex is now called the Simon Edison Centre for the Performing Arts.