Tours of New Old Globe Campus

When: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays

Where: Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park

Tickets: Free

Info: (619) 23-GLOBE

Web: www.TheOldGlobe.org

Old Globe Unveils New Theatre Space

By Patricia Morris Buckley

The Old Globe Theatre staged more than 200 productions on the Cassius Carter Centre Stage, which is rather impressive considering that the space was never even meant to be a theater.

“It was supposed to be a tavern,” explained Old Globe Executive Producer Lou Spisto as he gave a tour of the renovated campus to the press Dec. 3. “It wasn’t a great place for artists to work or for audiences to attend.”

Last year, the theater demolished the Carter to make way for the new four-story Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, which at 30,000 square feet is four times the size of the former building. This center contains space names that read like a philanthropist’s phone book: the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, the Karen and Donald Cohn Education Center, Hattox Hall, Viterbi Family Lobby, Lady Carolyn’s Pub (named after patron Carolyn Yorston-Wellcome) and the Donald and Darlene Shiley Terrace.

All of this is part of the theater’s $75 million capital campaign, which is within $3 million of being fully funded (amazing, given the current economy). The price tag for the new stage and educational complex totaled $22 million.

The tour began at the new Copley Plaza, which now ties the three Old Globe stages together on its three-acre complex. A large tree had to be removed after the city determined it was dying, which became a grassy area the theater hopes to use for special events. The brickwork has a circular, encompassing feel to it. Lady Carolyn’s Pub now can seat 80 patrons on its terrace for pre-show dinners and intermission snacks. The entire area has a shallower slope, which makes it more ADA-compliant.

“We think of this area as the front door to the park,” said Spisto. “This is our lobby.”

The primary focus of this center is the new 250-seat White Theatre (25 more seats than the Carter), which offers many audience amenities that the old stage lacked. For instance, the seats are slightly wider, there’s an upgraded air-conditioning system, acoustical paneling and sound proofing to keep park noises to a minimum. Plus, the lobby houses its own bathrooms.

“It now has better conditions for seeing a play,” Spisto said. “We wanted to provide a place where people could be comfortable, yet retain the same feel of the Carter and the same relationship with the audience with an arena stage. We didn’t want a mini-Globe.”

While the audience enters at the street level, actors come on stage through two voms, tunnel-like entrances beneath the seats. The stage floor is divided into sections that can be lowered, raised or removed to create such effects as a stairway or an orchestra pit (as audiences will see in the season’s first production, “Lost in Yonkers”). Above the stage is an improved grid system for lighting, and storage is ample throughout the building. The space’s newly expanded and modernized green room can be shared with the main stage through connecting doors.

Above the arena stage is the educational complex, which includes a “smart” classroom for 30, a kitchen, more bathrooms and the multi-use Haddix Hall. The hall can seat 125 to 150 and can be divided into three different spaces, plus a small stage can be added for cabaret performances. Off Haddix Hall is a 40-foot balcony that affords a spacious view of the park and lines one whole side of the hall in windows (and gives it a similar architectural style to the rest of the complex). The hall and terrace can be used for community meetings, educational programs and corporate events.

“The entire project came in on time and on budget,” said Spisto. “I’d say 98 percent of it turned out how we wanted or better.”

Patricia Morris Buckley has been reviewing the arts in San Diego for 25 years.