The Old Globe will complete their presentation of William Shakespeare's canon later this summer with Henry 6, a world premiere adaptation of Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III, adapted and directed by Barry Edelstein. Performances will run in Lowell Davies Festival Theatre in Balboa Park June 30 through September 14, with opening night set for July 19.
With this production, The Globe will become one of only a small handful of theatres in the country’s history to complete Shakespeare’s canon. Edelstein, a renowned stage director, producer, educator, and podcast host, will craft the rarely produced Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III into a two-part event, running simultaneously at The Old Globe’s 2024 Summer Shakespeare Festival.
Edelstein will direct a cast of 30, including Elizabeth A. Davis as Margaret, William DeMeritt as York, Sofia Jean Gomez as Warwick, Mahira Kakkar as Eleanor, Mortimer, and Iden, Ian Lassiter as Gloucester and Edward, Jake Millgard as Charles, Bolingbroke, and King Louis, Keshav Moodliar as King Henry, Victor Morris as Salisbury, Gregg Mozgala as Suffolk and Richard, Mike Sears as Cardinal, Old Clifford, and Father, Ella Serrano as Rutland, Tally Sessions as Talbot and Cade, and Cassia Thompson as Joan and Prince Edward
They will be supported by students from the The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program, including Danny Adams as Westmorland, Tutor, and Yorkist Soldier 2; Kevin Alicea-Minor as Countess’s Messenger, Hume, and Bevis; Jose Balistrieri as Priest, Soldier, and Young Clifford; Luana Fontes as Countess, Murderer 1, and Smith; Chris Hathaway as Southwell and Holland; Madeline Grace Jones as Bastard, Ship Captain, and Dick; Erick Lindsey as Reignier, Saye, and Yorkist Soldier 1; Angelynne Pawaan as Jourdain, Lawyer, and Jailer; Carter Piggee as Somerset; Akoni Steinmann as Talbot’s Captain and Clarence; Vandous Stripling II as Buckingham; Emma Svitil as Burgundy, York’s Messenger, and Chaplain; Michael Underhill as John Talbot, Spence, and Son; and Lisa VillaMil as King’s Valet, Murderer 2, and Michael.
The Henry 6 Corps are Layth Haddad, Gerardo Navarro, Ella Serrano, and Alejandra Villanueva.
“Henry 6, five years in the making, is a very special project to me and to The Old Globe,” says Edelstein in a statement. “The show does a great many very exciting things. First, it gives me the chance to celebrate what makes these rarely seen plays so great: wonderful characters and an epic story full of battles and poetry and politics and even spirituality. Second, it allows the Globe to join a small group of American theatres that have produced every single Shakespeare play. Third, it helps the Globe bring its professional artmaking and its community-based work closer together: by summer’s end, over a thousand San Diegans will have participated directly in the creation of these shows, cheek-by-jowl with nationally renowned theatre makers. And fourth, it will be the biggest Shakespeare production this theatre—and I—have ever attempted. All this will come together in a summer of Shakespeare that no Globe supporter will ever forget."
In addition to Edelstein, the creative team will include scenic designer Lawrence E. Morten III, costume designer David Israel Reynoso, lighting designer Mextly Couzin, sound designer Melanie Chen Cole, projection designer Caite Hevner, original music composer Julián Mesri, fight director Jacob Grigolia-Rosenbaum, choreographer Chelsey Arce, voice and text directors Emmelyn Thayer and Jesse Perez, casting directors Alaine Alldaffer and Lisa Donadio, and production stage manager Jess Slocum.
Edelstein, together with his Globe artistic team, will incorporates contributions from nearly 1,000 San Diegans, from acting in filmed crowd scenes integrated into the show’s action and live walk-on roles every night, to designing props and set pieces that will be seen onstage, to making recorded sound effects and singing choral material in the musical score.
For more information, visit TheOldGlobe.org.
