San Diego’s The Old Globe unveils its 12-show 2026 theater season

The Old Globe announced its 2026 season on Friday, with a 12-show lineup that will include three world premiere plays, three classics, a new musical, a British import and two outdoor summer Shakespeare plays.

Barry Edelstein, the Globe’s artistic director since 2012, described the upcoming season lineup as a variety of stories that “take on the big ideas that American culture is working through at this moment: the individual’s relationship to society, the tension between tradition and innovation, and the redemptive powers of family, community, and love.”

Season subscriptions are now on sale for the 12-show season, which will include an as-yet unannounced musical next fall. Tickets for the Globe’s holiday programming, the “Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” musical, running Nov. 5 through Dec. 31, and “Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show,” playing Nov. 21 through Dec. 28, are sold separately. Details at theoldglobe.org.

Edelstein spoke to the Union-Tribune about each of the shows coming to the company’s three Balboa Park theaters. Here’s the schedule, with his remarks on each show.

Old Globe Theatre

The 600-seat Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage proscenium theater

‘Hedda Gabler’ by Henrik Ibsen — Feb. 7 – March 8

Erin Cressida Wilson (screenwriter of “Secretary” and “The Girl on the Train”) has written a world premiere  adaptation of this 1891 Norwegian psychological drama about an unhappily married and controlling woman whose plot to financially ruin her former lover goes horribly awry.

After directing Holmes off Broadway in “The Wanderers” in 2023, Edelstein said they were looking for another project they could do together and landed on “Hedda Gabler.” Having previously directed some of Wilson’s erotic, female-centered plays in the 1990s, Edelstein asked her about penning a new adaptation, which he said is still set in the 1890s but the language is less “barnacled” and Victorian and more sexually direct. “Erin has blown the dust off it. It’s short, the language is blunt, and while it will be in its original time setting, the language has a contemporary feel.”

‘Fences’ by August Wilson — April 4 – May 3

The Globe returns to one of its favorite playwrights for this Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play set in 1957. It’s a family drama about a former Negro League baseball player whose frustration with never making it into the major leagues has poisoned his relationship with his son and others. Delicia Turner Sonnenberg (the Globe’s “Deceived” and “Trouble in Mind”) will direct. “Fences” is one of the 10 plays that make up Wilson’s American Century Cycle, with each play about the Black experience set in a different decade of the 20th century. Three of these cycle plays — “Two Trains Running,” “The Piano Lesson,” and “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”  — had pre-Broadway tryouts at the Globe from 1988-1991. Edelstein describes Troy, the central character in “Fences,” as “a Shakespearean Lear-like character … a dad in American drama who’s a tyrant and giant and teddy bear and bully.”

‘Kim’s Convenience’ by Ins Choi — May 15 – June 14

The playwright will lead the cast of this semi-autobiographical 2011 comedy about a Korea-born corner market proprietor in Canada who struggles to achieve success for himself and his family in their new homeland. The play, which has been updated for its current North American tour, inspired a popular Canadian TV sit-com of the same name that ran from 2016 to 2021. Weyni Mengesha directs. Edelstein describes Choi’s character as a “cantankerous, funny, beautiful sweetheart of a difficult guy.”

‘North by Northwest’ by Emma Rice — July 3 – Aug. 2

This London-born stage adaptation by Emma Rice’s of Alfred Hitchcock’s chase-filled, 1959 spy thriller film is kicking off its North American tour at the Old Globe. It’s the story of how a mild-mannered businessman, mistaken for a Cold War spy, is chased across 1950s America by mysterious killers. Rice is known for her playful, small-cast stagings of classic stories that incorporate camp comedy, music and highly physical movement.

New musical to be announced — Sept. 6 – Oct. 11

Negotiations are still under way for a new musical that will be presented in the fall.

Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre

The 250-seat in-the-round arena theater.

Fiasco Theater Company’s ‘Bartleby’ — Feb. 20 – March 15

The Globe commissioned this world premiere play, adapted by Fiasco’s Noah Brody and Paul L. Coffey from Herman Melville’s comic 1853 short story. It’s about an 1850s law firm that’s thrown into disarray when one of its workers, Bartleby, decides he no longer feels like doing his job. Fiasco (which presented its “Into the Woods” at the Globe in 2014 and “The Imaginary Invalid” in 2016) is known for what Edelstein calls its “extremely physical theater. Their approach is hilarious, bizarre and bonkers but very special.” He describes this production as a mix between the TV show “The Office” and Samuel Beckett, and he said it speaks to the challenges in today’s American workplace. Emily Young will direct.

‘Alien Girls’ by Amy Berryman — April 18 – May 10

Jaki Bradley will direct this time-traveling comedy about how a friendship between two millennial-age women writers in New York is tested and changed when one becomes pregnant and her priorities shift. Developed in the Globe’s Powers New Voices Festival, this world premiere play will include flashback and fantasy scenes. “It’s a women’s story, written and directed by women about a certain generation of women,” Edelstein said.

‘The Hombres’ by Tony Meneses — May 30 – June 21

James Vásquez (this summer’s “The Comedy of Errors”) directs the San Diego premiere of this comedy by the author of the Globe’s 2022 “El Borracho.” It’s about a group of macho Mexican American construction workers who regularly catcall the young women at a nearby yoga studio. To end the harassment, the studio’s gay male owner invites the workers to take one of his classes and soon mutual respect and unexpected romance bloom. “It’s a gay love story set in the clash between two entirely different worlds. It’s lovely and funny and surprising and totally original and really touching,” Edelstein said.

‘Cyrano’ by Jason O’Connell and Brenda Withers — July 18 – Aug. 9

First produced at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in 2019, this adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play will feature contemporary language and a small cast. It’s the story of the homely and insecure poet Cyrano who has secretly loved the beautiful Roxanne for years. When she falls for the handsome but dim-witted Christian, Cyrano offers to help Christian woo Roxanne with his own love poetry about her. No director has been announced. Edelstein said the 2019 script has been streamlined for the Globe production, which won’t feature the play’s traditional elements like Cyrano’s giant nose or the soldiers’ oversize boots. “Those aren’t necessary,” Edelstein said. “It’s more fun if it lives in the audience’s imagination .. It has romance, dash and fun.”

‘Topdog/Underdog’ by Suzan-Lori Parks — Sept. 25 – Oct. 18

Steve H. Broadnax III (who directed last winter’s “Appropriate”) returns to direct this funny but heartbreaking play that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for drama and The New York Times hailed in 2018 as the greatest American play of the previous 25 years. It’s the story of two Black brothers, Lincoln and Booth, who hustle to make a living through humiliating jobs and card games. But their ambition and rivalry tears their relationship apart. Edelstein said he has wanted to stage this play for years but couldn’t find the right director until Broadnax staged Branden Jacobs Jenkins’ “Appropriate.” Edelstein described Parks’ voice as “idiosyncratic, poetic and caustic” and the “brother drama” play about “how their very loving, intense deep connection plays out against the backdrop of the American hustle.”

Lowell Davies Festival Theatre

The 620-seat outdoor summer Shakespeare amphitheater.

‘Measure for Measure’ — June 14 – July 12

Vivienne Benesch directs the Bard’s black comedy about a sister pressured by a corrupt duke for sexual favors in exchange for the life of her imprisoned brother. It’s been more than 20 years since the Globe has produced this challenging play about political corruption, ethics and sexual assault. Edelstein described it as contemporary in nature, saying “it’s half comic, half #MeToo. Sadly it’s an unsettling story with contemporary American parallels. Director Benesch is the artistic director of Playmakers Rep in North Carolina and Edelstein describes her as “a Shakespearean of real distinction.”

‘Much Ado About Nothing’ — August 2 – August 30 

Barry Edelstein will direct this Italian-set comedy about two sets of lovers, one torn apart by false accusations and the other too stubborn to admit their passion for one another. “I’ve never directed it so this will be my first time and I hope to deliver a really fun time. It’s such a delightful play.”