Theatre and Drama Exhibit

The Old Globe Theatre: A San Diego Landmark


Photograph of cast members from an early 1950s Old Globe Theatre Shakespeare Festival. Actor Dennis Hopper, who appeared in some of these productions, is pictured fifth from left. (Old Globe Theatre Records)

The Old Globe Theatre, California's oldest professional theatre, was established in 1935 as part of the 1935-1936 California Pacific International Exposition that took place in San Diego's Balboa Park. Although the theatre and its two neighboring buildings, the Ye Olde Gift Shoppe and the Falstaff Tavern, were due to be demolished following the exposition, local residents raised funds to save them by bringing the buildings up to code.

Cover image of Cooks 'Round the Globe: Selected Recipes from Artists and Friends of San Diego's Award-Winning Old Globe Theatre. San Diego: The Old Globe Theatre, 1988. Donated by Darlene Gould Davies.

In 1937, the San Diego Community Theatre, a non-profit corporation, was chartered by the state to assume responsibility for the administration of the Old Globe. The organization's name was changed to the Old Globe Theatre, Inc. in 1958. During the 1960s, the Falstaff Tavern was remodeled and renamed the Cassius Carter Centre Stage, named in honor of a San Diego arts patron and Shakespeare scholar.

In 1978, the Old Globe Theatre was destroyed by an arson-set fire. To accommodate the theatre's annual outdoor summer Shakespeare festival, a temporary festival stage was erected. As the result of a major fundraising effort, a new Old Globe Theatre was built and opened in 1982. An arson struck again in 1984 and burned down the Festival Stage. From this loss sprang a new theatre, the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre in 1985, named for the Old Globe's longtime chairman of the board of directors. The entire complex, now called the Simon Edison Centre for the Performing Arts, named for a major private donor to the Old Globe building fund, consists of three theatres: the Old Globe, the Cassius Carter Centre Stage, and the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. Materials featured in this and the adjacent case are drawn from the records of the Old Globe; the papers of Darlene Gould Davies, a professor emerita of San Diego State University, former member of the Old Globe Board of Directors, and widow of Lowell Davies, who has participated in the many of the theatre's activities; and the John R. and Jane Adams Postcard Collection.

Postcard featuring actor Christopher Walken as Marc Antony in Julius Caesar, 1969. (John R. and Jane Adams Postcard Collection)

As the result of a major fundraising effort, a new Old Globe Theatre was built and opened in 1982. The complex, now called the Simon Edison Centre for the Performing Arts, named for a major private donor to the Old Globe building fund, consists of three theatres: the Old Globe, the Cassius Carter Centre Stage, and the Lowell Davies Festival Stage.

Materials featured in this and the adjacent case are drawn from the records of the Old Globe; the papers of Darlene Gould Davies, a professor emerita of San Diego State University, former member of the Old Globe Board of Directors, and widow of Lowell Davies, who has participated in many of the theatre's activities; and the John R. and Jane Adams Postcard Collection.

Image to the right: Backstage at the Globe, 65th Anniversary Gala. Commemorative book, 2000. (Darlene Gould Davies Papers)

Image to the right: Program from the first Old Globe Theatre production, featuring The Taming of the Shrew and A Comedy of Errors, among other plays by William Shakespeare. Largely Chicago-based casts appeared in these early productions, which were performed during the 1935-1936 California Pacific International Exposition. In 1949, the Old Globe Theatre launched what has become its annual summer Shakespeare Festival, a program that was originally a collaborative effort between the theatre and San Diego State College (now San Diego State University). (Old Globe Theatre Records)