Photo Flash: First Look at Old Globe's SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

The Old Globe today announced principal casting for the Globe's 2012 Shakespeare Festival. Craig Noel Award winner Jay Whittaker returns to the Festival for his third consecutive season to appear in the title role of William Shakespeare's Richard III. He will also appear as Oliver in Shakespeare's As You Like It. Also returning to the Festival are Craig Noel Award winner Robert Foxworth and Adrian Sparks, who will take to the courtroom floor as titanic lawyers Henry Drummond and Matthew Harrison Brady, respectively, in the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee classic Inherit the Wind. Foxworth, an Old Globe Associate Artist, will also play Lord Hastings in Richard III, and Sparks will play Lord Mayor of London in Richard III and Corin in As You Like It. Festival veteran Dana Green will star as Rosalind, and Dan Amboyer, new to the Festival stage, will play Orlando, the object of her affections, in As You Like It. Green will also play Queen Elizabeth in Richard III. Amboyer will also be featured as Bertram Cates in Inherit the Wind and the Earl of Richmond in Richard III. Festival newcomer Jacques C. Smith will play Jacques in As You Like It, the Duke of Buckingham in Richard III and Mr. Meeker in Inherit the Wind. Adrian Noble returns for his third outing as Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Festival and will helm As You Like It and Inherit the Wind. Renowned British director Lindsay Posner makes his debut at the Globe with his production of Richard III. Noble recently directed the World Premiere stage version of The King's Speech, which is currently touring England, and Posner's hit revival of Noises Off is currently playing at London's Old Vic and will transfer to the West End in March. The 2012 Shakespeare Festival, performed in repertory in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, runs June 3 - Sept. 30, 2012.

Tickets to the 2012 Shakespeare Festival are currently available by subscription only. Single tickets will go on sale April 29. Richard III runs June 3 - Sept. 29. Previews run June 3, 21, 22 and 23. Opening night is June 24. As You Like It runs June 10 - Sept. 30. Previews run June 10, 26, 27 and 28. Opening night is June 29. Inherit the Wind runs June 17 - Sept. 25. Previews run June 17 and 30 and July 1 and 2. Opening night is July 3. In addition to the Shakespeare Festival, the Globe's 2012 Summer Season features Divine Rivalry by Michael Kramer with D. S. Moynihan, directed by Michael Wilson, July 7 - Aug. 12 and Yasmina Resa's Tony Award-winning comedy God of Carnage, directed by Richard Seer, July 27 - Sept. 2. Tickets to the 2012 Summer Season are currently available by subscription only.

Adrian Noble (Director, As You Like It and Inherit the Wind) has served as Artistic Director of The Old Globe Shakespeare Festival since 2010, where his productions include King Lear, The Madness of George III, The Tempest and Amadeus. He served as Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1990 to 2003. His productions at RSC include Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, The Thebans, The Winter's Tale, Hamlet, Travesties (and West End), Macbeth, King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream (and Broadway), Romeo and Juliet, The Cherry Orchard (and West End), Cymbeline, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (and West End), The Family Reunion, The Seagull, Kiss Me, Kate (and West End), Pericles, A Doll's House, Forest, Art of Success (and New York), The Secret Garden (and West End), Henry V, The Plantagenets, As You Like It and Measure for Measure. His additionAl West End credits include The Duchess of Malfi, Three Sisters, Brand, Home Place, Kean, A Woman of No Importance, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (and Broadway) and Summer and Smoke. For opera he has directed The Fairy-Queen and Il Ritorno d'Ulysse (Aix-en-Provence), Macbeth (Metropolitan Opera) Mozart/Da Ponte cycle (Opéra de Lyon), The Magic Flute (Glyndebourne), Carmen (Paris), Alcina (Staatsoper, Vienna) and Serse (Theater an der Wien). He also directed the film of A Midsummer Night's Dream. He is the author of How to do Shakespeare. A Doll's House won the Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Revival and Best Director in 1981, along with the Plays and Players Best Director Award, for which Noble was jointly awarded for The Duchess of Malfi. Noble won the Best Director Award at The Globe Theatre Awards for A Winter's Tale. In additional to his many international awards, Noble's productions have received numerous Olivier and Tony Award nominations. Noble has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from four British Universities and is an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple, London. Noble recently directed the World Premiere stage version of The King's Speech, which is currently touring England.

Lindsay Posner (Director, Richard III) was Associate Director at The Royal Court Theatre from 1987 to 1992 where his production of Death and the Maiden won two Laurence Olivier Awards. His operatic credits include Guilio Cesare (Royal Opera House), Love Counts (Almeida Theatre), Jenufa (Opera Theatre Company, Dublin), Dada: Man and Boy (Almeida Theatre and Montclair Theatre, USA), Tosca (Grange Park Opera) and La Traviata and Roberto Deveraux (Opera Holland Park). His theater credits include Butley and The Birthday Party (Duchess Theatre), An Ideal Husband (Vaudeville Theatre), House of Games and Tom and Viv (Almeida Theatre), A View from the Bridge (Duke of Yorks Theatre, nominated for four Olivier Awards), Carousel (Churchill Theatre, U.K. Tour and Savoy Theatre), Fiddler on the Roof (Sheffield Crucible and Savoy), Fool for Love and A Life in the Theatre (Apollo Theatre), Calderon's Doctor of Honour (Cheek by Jowl at the Donmar Warehouse), Oleanna (Garrick Theatre), the World Premiere of Power by Nick Dear and Tartuffe (National Theatre), The Caretaker (Bristol Old Vic), Twelfth Night, The Rivals, Volpone and The Taming of the Shrew (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Misanthrope and American Buffalo (Young Vic), Noises Off and The Provok'd Wife (The Old Vic), The Lady from the Sea (Lyric Hammersmith/West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Seagull (Gate Theatre, Dublin) and The Robbers (Gate Theatre). He is the director of The Old Vic's current revival of Noises Off, which will transfer to the West End in March, and Menier Chocolate Factor's upcoming revival of Abigail's Party.

Dan Amboyer (Orlando, As You Like It; Earl of Richmond, Richard III; Bertram Cates, Inherit the Wind) recently starred as Prince William in the television movie William & Catherine: A Royal Romance alongside Victor Garber, Jean Smart and Jane Alexander. His Off Broadway and New York theater credits include Bash'd (The Zipper Factory), As You Like It (HERE Arts Center), The Great Unknown alongside Tom Hewitt (New York Musical Theatre Festival), Friends and Relations (Abingdon Theatre Company), For the Love of Christ (New York International Fringe Festival), Rinne Groff's Orange Lemon Egg Canary (PS122), The Play About the Naked Guy (Emerging Artists Theatre) and the New York premieres of These Seven Sicknesses, Amy Freed's Restoration Comedy and a newly-adapted Dido, Queen of Carthage, all with Exit, Pursued By A Bear, where he is a founding member. Regionally, he has appeared in The Eclectic Society (Walnut Street Theatre), Le Grand Meaulnes directed by Di Trevis (Quantum Theatre), Grease (The Muny), Crazy for You (North Shore Music Theatre), A Christmas Carol and Godspell (Meadow Brook Theatre), Doctor Faustus, Henry IV, Romeo and Juliet, My Fair Lady and Camelot (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Swan Lake (American Ballet Theatre) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat starring Donny Osmond (First National Tour). On television, he has guest starred on "Body of Proof," "Law & Order" and "All My Children."

Dana Green (Rosalind, As You Like It; Queen Elizabeth, Richard III) last appeared at the Globe in the American Premiere of Alan Ayckbourn's Life of Riley and was previously seen as Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac and Viola in Twelfth Night in the 2009 Shakespeare Festival. Green has spent four seasons with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in roles including Isabella in Measure for Measure, Carol Cutrere in Orpheus Descending, Princess in Love's Labour's Lost, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Viola in Twelfth Night. Her regional theater credits include Pride and Prejudice and A Midsummer Night's Dream (South Coast Repertory), The 39 Steps (La Mirada Theatre), All's Well That Ends Well (Yale Repertory Theatre), Measure for Measure (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Twelfth Night (California Shakespeare Theater), Love's Labour's Lost and Othello (Shakespeare Santa Cruz), The Constant Wife and The Play's the Thing (Asolo Repertory Theatre), Hay Fever (Court Theatre), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Meadow Brook Theatre) and Twelfth Night and Macbeth (Shakespeare Festival of Dallas).

Robert Foxworth (Lord Hastings, Richard III; Henry Drummond, Inherit the Wind) is an Associate Artist of The Old Globe and has appeared in August: Osage County, King Lear, The Madness of George III, Cornelia, Julius Caesar, Private Lives, Below the Belt, Love Letters and Antony and Cleopatra. He recently played Arthur in Superior Donuts at San Diego Repertory Theatre. His most recent appearance on Broadway was in August: Osage County as Charlie Aiken. Also on Broadway, Foxworth has appeared in Twelve Angry Men, Ivanov, Honour, Judgment at Nuremberg and Henry V. He won the Theatre World Award for his portrayal of John Proctor in The Crucible at Lincoln Center Theater. His television series include "Storefront Lawyers," "Falcon Crest" and "LateLine" with Al Franken. He has guest starred on countless television shows over the years such as a two-year stint on "Six Feet Under," episodes of "Law & Order" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Foxworth's regional theater work has included Cyrano de Bergerac (Great Lakes Theatre Festival), Iago in Othello and The Scottish King in Macbeth (Guthrie Theater), George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Hartford Stage), Uncle Vanya (Geffen Playhouse) and many more. He is the voice of Ratchet in all three of the Transformers movies.

Jacques C. Smith (Jacques, As You Like It; Duke of Buckingham, Richard III; Mr. Meeker, Inherit the Wind) has appeared on Broadway as Benny in Rent and in the International Broadway Tour of Rent featuring Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal. He has performed at numerous regional theaters throughout the country in productions including Take Me Out (Celebration Theatre), Cuttin' Up (Cleveland Play House), Purlie (Goodman Theatre, Black Theater Alliance Award, Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for Best Actor), Cuttin' Up, Purlie (Fred Award, NAACP Theater Award nomination for Best Actor) and Blue with Phylicia Rashad (Pasadena Playhouse), Antigone (South Coast Repertory), Before It Hits Home (San Diego Repertory Theatre), School for Wives and The Green Bird directed by Julie Taymor (La Jolla Playhouse), Blue with Leslie Uggams (Arizona Theatre Company and Paper Mill Playhouse) and The Meeting (Illinois Theatre Center), among others. His television credits include "General Hospital," "CSI: Miami," HBO's "Oz" for two seasons, "ER," "Ralph Ellison: An American Journey" for PBS's Emmy Award-winning "American Masters" series, "The Division" and "Law & Order."

Adrian Sparks (Corin, As You Like It; Lord Mayor of London, Richard III; Matthew Harrison Brady, Inherit the Wind) has appeared at such theaters as Guthrie Theater, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Drama Guild, Stage West, CENTERSTAGE, Indiana Repertory Theatre, PAF Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. This is Sparks' third year as a member of Adrian Noble's Festival company at the Globe. During the 2011 season he performed the roles of Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing and Stephano the drunKen Butler in The Tempest. In addition to his 2010 Festival assignments in Taming of the Shrew, King Lear and The Madness of George III, Globe audiences also saw him portray Uncle Ben in Death of a Salesman. Sparks first came to The Old Globe in 1976 in Troilus and Cressida, Othello and playing Corin in As You Like It (a role he is reprising over 35 years later). His most recent theatrical engagement was playing Leonato in Ethan McSweeney's version of Much Ado About Nothing with The Shakespeare Theatre Company. For the camera, Sparks has appeared in more than 75 film and television projects.

Jay Whittaker (Oliver, As You Like It; Richard, Richard III) appeared in the Globe's 2011 Shakespeare Festival as Mozart in Amadeus and Don John in Much Ado About Nothing. He also appeared in the 2010 Festival as Edgar in King Lear, Lucentio in The Taming of the Shrew and William Pitt in The Madness of George III, for which he received the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Craig Noel Award honoring his work in all three productions. He has been seen Off Broadway in Frank's Home at Playwrights Horizons and Rose Rage at The Duke on 42nd Street. His other credits include Old Masters, Mother Courage and Her Children and David Copperfield (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), Sense and Sensibility, directed by Jon Jory, and Awake and Sing! directed by Amy Morton (Northlight Theatre), Shining City (Huntington Theatre Company), Tamburlaine and Edward II (The Shakespeare Theatre Company), Shining City and Frank's Home (Goodman Theatre), The Merchant of Venice, All's Well That Ends Well, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Measure for Measure, Julius Caesar, Love's Labour's Lost and The Tempest (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) and Henry IV (Royal Shakespeare Company). Whittaker's film and television credits include Dustclouds, Let's Go to Prison, Death of a President, "Prison Break" and "Early Edition."

SEASON SUBSCRIPTIONS offer substantial savings with special subscriber benefits. Subscriptions can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE [234-5623] or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Subscriptions to the Globe's Summer Season range from $66 to $387. Five-play packages range from $112 to $387. Shakespeare Festival packages (3 plays) range from $66 to $246. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and younger, seniors and groups of 10 or more.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theaters and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for 75 years. The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, which are both part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theater's education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Catered Affair, and the annual holiday musical, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theaters across the country.

Photo Credit: Henry DiRocco, Craig Schwartz

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