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The Old Globe has announced the cast, air dates and surround events for its free upcoming audio production of “Hamlet: On the Radio,” which will debut April 23 on KPBS Radio 89.5 FM.
Last month, the Globe unveiled its hybrid 2021 season that will mix scheduled online productions with planned but not date-specific live productions that will hopefully resume next fall. One of the most high-profile projects is a revival of the company’s 2017 outdoor production of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” being produced with partner KPBS Radio. Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein directed the acclaimed production that starred Grantham Coleman, star of TV’s “The Americans,” and a multiracial cast.
When San Diego theaters abruptly shut down March 12 due to the pandemic, nobody expected they would stay dark for the rest of the year. And yet, out of the darkness, local artists began producing hundreds of online productions, play readings, cabarets and concerts, audio-casts, podcasts, interviews and education programs to stay connected to their art and their audiences.
For this year’s look back at the 2020 year in theater, I found it impossible to choose a top 10, since there’s no way to compare the work produced onstage before a live audience with shows presented on Zoom and Facebook Live, or filmed plays. So I offer my picks for standout work in a multitude of formats and themes.
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Common Ground Theatre launched an ambitious new season this month with a trio of plays by Black male playwrights that signaled its unflinching new focus on the contemporary Black experience.
Earlier this year, award-winning local actor and director Yolanda Franklin was named executive artistic director of Common Ground. She is the first woman artistic director in the 57-year history of the oldest Black theater company in San Diego and the third-oldest in the United States. Despite the pandemic, Franklin has pushed ahead in planning an ambitious season that launched earlier this month with three filmed plays broadcast over Zoom.