The Old Globe Announces 2013 Season - Adrian Noble Directs MERCHANT OF VENICE, THE RAINMAKER and More

The Old Globe today announced its 2013 Summer Season. Adrian Noble will return for his fourth season as the Artistic Director of the Globe's Shakespeare Festival and direct Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice starring Festival veteran Miles Anderson. Noble will also direct Tom Stoppard's classic farce, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Presented in repertory in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, the Festival will also include the perennial favorite A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Summer Season will also feature N. Richard Nash's romantic comedy The Rainmaker and the San Diego Premiere of Double Indemnity, based on the classic novel by James M. Cain and adapted for the stage by David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright. The Rainmaker will run on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre and Double Indemnity in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Tickets to the Globe's 2013 Summer Season are currently available by subscription only, and prices range from $66 to $422. Subscription packages may be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the box office.

"I'm thrilled to welcome back Adrian Noble as Artistic Director of the Globe's Shakespeare Festival," said Managing Director Michael G. Murphy. "This summer, Adrian has paired one of Shakespeare's most compelling and fascinating plays, The Merchant of Venice, with his most beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. The third play in the Festival is Tom Stoppard's brilliant Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, his hilarious and moving modern take on Shakespeare's Hamlet. And who better to play Shylock in The Merchant of Venice than Miles Anderson, whose larger-than-life performances as Leonardo da Vinci, Prospero, Antonio Salieri and King George have exhilarated Globe audiences. Our indoor stages will feature the enduring American comedy The Rainmaker and a highly theatrical new adaptation of the noir classic Double Indemnity."

The complete 2013 Summer Season is as follows:

2013 Shakespeare Festival / Lowell Davies Festival Theatre (runs June 2 - Sept. 29 in repertory)

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (June 2 - Sept. 29)
Filled with magic, humor, music and spectacle, Shakespeare's most joyful and popular comedy unfolds in an enchanted forest where fairies play tricks on unsuspecting lovers and bumbling actors are transformed beyond their wildest dreams.

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (June 9 - Sept. 28)
Renowned actor Miles Anderson returns to the Festival stage as Shylock in Shakespeare's unforgettable tale of mercy and justice, generosity and greed. Anderson has previously appeared at the Globe as Leonardo da Vinci in the West Coast Premiere of Divine Rivalry, Prospero in The Tempest, Antonio Salieri in Amadeus and as King George in The Madness of George III, which won him the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Craig Noel Award. Adrian Noble directs.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard (June 16 - Sept. 26)
Fast-paced and irresistibly funny, Tom Stoppard's classic farce turns Shakespeare's Hamlet inside out. As the story of Hamlet plays out all around them, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern struggle to figure out what it all means and whether they can escape their ultimate fate. Adrian Noble directs Stoppard's Tony Award-winning play.

Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, Old Globe Theatre
Conrad Prebys Theatre Center

The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash (July 13 - Aug. 11)
N. Richard Nash's romantic comedy is set against the sweeping landscape of the American West. On her family's drought-ridden ranch, Lizzie's hopes and dreams have run as dry as the barren fields. When the irresistible Starbuck arrives in town, selling the promise of rain, Lizzie must decide: is he a con man, or does he hold the key to everything she desires?

Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre
Conrad Prebys Theatre Center

Double Indemnity by James M. Cain, adapted for the stage by David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright (July 26 - Aug. 25)
When a small-time insurance agent falls under the spell of a gorgeous femme fatale, the two conspire to murder her husband for the insurance money. It seems like the perfect crime - until it all starts to unravel. Reimagined for the stage, the classic crime novel and film noir masterpiece is sexy, fun and wildly theatrical.

All selections are subject to change.

SEASON SUBSCRIPTIONS offer substantial savings with special subscriber benefits. Subscriptions can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE [234-5623] or by visiting the box office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Subscriptions to the Globe's 2013 Summer Season range from $66 to $422. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and younger, seniors and groups of 10 or more.

LOCATION: The Old Globe is located in San Diego's Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available ($10). For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org.

CALENDAR: Allegiance - A New American Musical (9/7-10/28), Good People (9/29-10/28), Measure for Measure (11/10-11/18), Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (11/17-12/29), Pygmalion (1/12-2/17), The Brothers Size (1/26-2/24), A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (3/8-4/14), A Doll's House (3/23-4/21), Other Desert Cities (4/27-6/2), Be a Good Little Widow (5/11-6/9).

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theaters and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for over 75 years. The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theater's education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Catered Affair and the annual holiday musical, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theaters across the country.

Photo Credits: Ken Howard, Henry DiRocco, Jeffrey Weiser, and The Old Globe