The Old Globe is a three-stage theatre complex in Balboa Park, founded in 1935 as a venue for condensed Shakespeare productions at the California Pacific International Exposition. It burned down in 1978 in an arson fire, was rebuilt with significant expansion, and has since become one of the most respected regional theatres in the United States — a Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1984 confirmed its national standing.
The main stage is a 600-seat indoor proscenium house; the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre is an outdoor amphitheatre modelled on the Elizabethan Globe; the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre is a smaller flexible space. The theatre produces Shakespeare through the summer in the outdoor theatre and year-round programming in the indoor spaces — new musicals, classical plays, and world premieres that frequently move to Broadway.
The company has transferred numerous productions to Broadway and New York, including Into the Woods (which premiered here). Tickets are easier to come by than New York equivalents at similar quality levels; the summer festival productions in the outdoor theatre are the most relaxed context.