![\"Winning](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/web-Barry_Edelstein1_print-214x300.jpg\" "\\"Old")
Edelstein, who moved to South Park with his wife and two children from New York City, brings a lot to the table of the Balboa Park theater company, one of the largest in the United States. Edelstein called it a \u201ccultural institution with a civic mandate,\u201d and has been taking his new position very seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of the way that you make a gigantic institution like this thrive is by making it the first place where people ever have an experience of the theater,\u201d Edelstein said. \u201cIt means getting families in here to see shows, because remember, nobody ever goes to the theater. They\u2019re only ever taken to the theater for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edelstein experienced that first-hand when he would take his daughter to shows on Broadway. His family moved to South Park from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, after an extensive and exhaustive search for a new artistic director. Announced October 2012, he took the position Nov. 1, 2012.<\/p>\n
Edelstein joins The Old Globe family after several years with New York\u2019s Public Theater. His most recent position in New York was director of the company\u2019s Shakespeare Initiative, where he oversaw all the company\u2019s Shakespearean productions.<\/p>\n
His career is based in part on Shakespeare\u2019s work, as Edelstein is well known as a leader in staging the bard\u2019s work, and is also the author of two books on the subject, both used in actor training courses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had reached a point in my career where I thought I really wanted to try and run one of these big institutions,\u201d Edelstein said. \u201cI had no idea it would end up being one as august and spectacular as this one, but I knew that was the next logical step in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recognizing that he is the CEO of a large organization, Edelstein said the simple answer to what he does on a typical day is to be the \u201ccustodian of the artistic life\u201d of The Old Globe, including overseeing current productions, managing the organization with Managing Director Michael Murphy and keeping contact with artists, writers, donors and civic leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019re two ways to look at the job. One is I [have to] put on great shows done by great artists that a lot of people are going to want to see. That\u2019s it,\u201d he said. \u201cI also run a cultural institution that sits on public land in one of the great parks in the United States, and there\u2019s a community obligation to make sure I\u2019m serving the entire City, and indeed County, of San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is an obligation he discussed in depth, as earnestly as he sees how theater has served the purpose of providing a forum for people to come together to discuss \u201cgreat issues that are facing them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
One of those issues is representation, a focus for Edelstein in his new position.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s no secret to say the audience does not represent the entire diverse spectrum of the community of San Diego,\u201d he said, \u201cso there\u2019s work that has to be done to make sure that this institution becomes the property of everybody in San Diego in the same way that Balboa Park is the property of everybody in San Diego, not just the exclusive province of the educated, the wealthy [and] the white.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting out there,\u201d as Edelstein called it, is more than visiting the vast number of theater companies throughout San Diego County, which he said was one thing he wanted to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are communities who don\u2019t feel welcome in a big \u2026 formal institution like this,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to get out to them.\u201d Edelstein has already started, saying he was currently working on a \u201cShakespeare project\u201d that would get some of The Old Globe\u2019s productions out of Balboa Park, free of charge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important to see the whole thing as one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His family\u2019s reception in all of San Diego, including South Park, has been overwhelmingly positive and humbling, and Edelstein said he is happy with his family\u2019s new city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the sort of bonus about this,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to be asked to run a great institution, it\u2019s another thing that that great institution is located in one of the most liveable cities.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is one more bonus, he said: seven minutes \u201cdoor to door\u201d from his office in Balboa Park to his home.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy kids are young,\u201d he said, \u201cso that means I can put in a full day at work, go home for dinner and come back for an eight o\u2019clock curtain.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Old Globe artistic director sees theater as property of all By Anthony King | SDUN Editor The Old Globe Theatre\u2019s new artistic director has quickly and quietly charmed San Diego, highlighted at this year\u2019s San Diego Critics Craig Noel Awards. The company won 10 awards that night, but the entire audience was won over […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":245830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Winning with Barry Edelstein","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}