Craig Noel, Founding Director of The Old Globe, Dies at 94

Craig Noel, Founding Director of The Old Globe, has died of natural causes, He was 94.

He began his association with the theater began in 1937 as an actor. In 1947, he became head of the theater, which he guided from community to professional status in 1959. In the late 1940s, Noel also launched the San Diego National Shakespeare Festival, and in the early 1960s, he programmed seasons at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Arts, producing works by writers such as Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Luigi Pirandello, Bertolt Brecht and Edward Albee. This series eventually led to the Old Globe’s production of new plays at the Cassius Carter Centre Stage.

Under his guidance, the theater received the Regional Theatre Tony Award and in 2007, Noel received the National Medal of Arts. Noel’s many other honors include the California Governor’s Award for the Arts, the Conservator of American Arts Award from the American Conservatory Theater, and San Diego’s Living Treasure Award. In addition, the San Diego Drama Critics Circle named its annual honors the “Craig Noel Awards for Excellence in Theatre.” He was also the founder of the California Theatre Council and a former vice president of the California Confederation of the Arts.