The Old Globe

The Old Globe opened back in 1935 staging 50-minute versions of Shakespeare plays. Although arson destroyed the original building in 1978, the theater's board of directors vowed to rebuild on the same site. Finally, in 1982, the new Old Globe was back in business; the official inaugural performance featured Shakespeare's "As You Like It."

Today the Globe presents 15 productions and nearly 600 performances annually on its three Balboa Park stages: the 580-seat Old Globe Theatre, the 612-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre and — while its new theater center is being built — a specially constructed 227-seat intimate space next door at the Museum of Art.