Taymor's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Luhrmann's ROMEO + JULIET and More Among Free Monday Night Screenings at The Old Globe

The Old Globe will once again share some of its favorite Shakespearean cinema as a complement to its stage productions with the return of Free Monday Night Film Screenings, presented in conjunction with the 2017 Summer Shakespeare Festival.

Curated by the Globe's Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and introduced by Edelstein and KPBS's "Cinema Junkie" Beth Accomando, the films include Julie Taymor's A Midsummer Night's Dream on June 26, Peter Brook's King Lear on July 17, Al Pacino's Looking for Richard on August 7, and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet on August 28.

Admission is free. Seating for each film is first-come, first-served and by general admission. The line begins one hour before each screening.

Join us outdoors for the first film, A Midsummer Night's Dream, on Monday, June 26 at 8:15 p.m. in the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. From the mind of award-winning director Julie Taymor (The Lion King on Broadway, Frida, Titus) comes a Shakespeare adaptation like none other. Rich with Taymor's trademark creativity, this immersive and darkly poetic cinematic experience brings to life the play's iconic fairies and the unsuspecting young lovers they meddle with. Filmed at Taymor's sold-out stage production with cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto and music by Academy Award-winning composer Elliot Goldenthal, the feats of visual imagination are ingenious and plentiful, but beating at the center of the film is an emotionally moving take on the deeper human aspects of Shakespeare's beloved tale.

The epic King Lear follows on Monday, July 17 at 7:00 p.m., indoors on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Now considered one of the greatest stage productions of Shakespeare ever, Peter Brook's direction of King Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962 was hugely influential in reinterpreting Shakespeare as a fresh, urgent, and modern voice. Following a successful world tour and Brook's own increasing interest in filmmaking, the production was made into a movie in 1971, filming in a bleak and frozen Danish landscape. King Lear (Paul Scofield), elderly and ready to retire from the throne, decides to split his kingdom among his three daughters according to who best declaims her love for him. When his daughter Cordelia refuses to flatter her father's ego with devotion, Lear angrily gives the lion's share of his power to her sisters, Goneril and Regan. They soon abuse this trust, and Lear finds himself drifting into madness as his former empire falls apart, with little time left to right his wrongs.

Explore the mind of the artists as Al Pacino goes Looking for Richard on Monday, August 7, at 7:00 p.m., in the Old Globe Theatre. A workshop of Shakespeare's Richard III inspires actor/director Al Pacino's award-winning documentary. Though a noteworthy cast of stage actors and Hollywood stars (including Kevin Spacey, Winona Ryder, and Alec Baldwin) gathers to work on the play, Looking for Richard does not present a straightforward filmed version of the scheming, deformed king's rise and fall. Instead, Pacino turns the cameras on the rehearsal process and his own exploration of Shakespeare's history and meaning. Scenes in full costume alternate with readings in street clothes, while interviews gather the opinions on the Bard of everyone from renowned scholars and Shakespearean actors to random New Yorkers.

Late summer skies will provide the perfect setting in the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre on Monday, August 28 at 8:00 p.m. as Romeo + Juliet is updated by visionary director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge, The Great Gatsby). Shakespeare's classic romantic tragedy is updated to a postmodern Verona Beach where guns replace swords and bored youths are easily spurred toward violence. Longtime rivals in religion and business, the Montagues and the Capulets form rival gangs whose animosities spill into the streets. Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) is aloof toward the goings-on of his Montague cousins, but after he meets Juliet (Claire Danes), a Capulet, at a party one fateful night, his heart and his allegiance are pushed to the breaking point.

"This summer the Globe is once again delighted to offer San Diegans the joy of great Shakespeare in many forms, part of our ongoing commitment to make theatre matter to more people," said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "In addition to our exemplary Summer Shakespeare Festival, we will present free screenings of four exceptional Shakespeare films. These highly accessible works feature striking directorial visions of the Bard's plays. I love all four of them. Both Julie Taymor's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Peter Brook's King Lear originated as stage productions before moving to the screen; they offer thrilling opportunities to see some of the best productions of these two plays ever mounted. Looking for Richard follows Al Pacino-film star and great American Shakespearean-on an unforgettable backstage look at how actors and directors find their way into the heart of the Bard. And finally, Baz Luhrmann brings an entirely new generation to Shakespeare with his visionary update on Romeo and Juliet, perfect for a summer night outside at the Globe."

The 2017 Summer Shakespeare Festival includes Globe and television favorite Robert Sean Leonard (the Globe's Pygmalion, "House") in the title role of one of the greatest of Shakespeare's towering cycle of history plays, King Richard II, helmed by award-winning director Erica Schmidt (Off Broadway's A Month in the Country, All the Fine Boys, Humor Abuse) in her Globe debut. Convinced of his divine right to rule, King Richard acts recklessly and provides the canny Henry Bolingbroke an opening to seize the crown. Filled with magnificent verse and Shakespeare's characteristic wisdom and insight, King Richard II is a deeply moving and insightful portrait of how the forces of history collide and combust to shape a nation's political landscape. King Richard II plays June 11 - July 15, with opening night on June 18 in the outdooR Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. Tickets start at $30 and are on sale now to the general public.

Shakespeare's exhilarating tragedy Hamlet follows, with the Globe's Barry Edelstein returning to the outdoor Festival Theatre stage to bring Shakespeare's classic to life. He will direct a cast featuring some of the nation's finest classical actors in one of the greatest plays ever written: revenge thriller, ghost story, psychological drama, political epic, and family saga, all packed in one with unforgettable characters, theatrical masterstrokes, and world famous lines. The Prince of Denmark comes home from college to find his father dead, his mother remarried to his uncle, and a spine-chilling apparition roaming the palace grounds. Hamlet will run August 6 - September 10, with opening night on August 12. Tickets start at $30 and go on sale to the general public on Friday, June 30.

Meanwhile, the classic musical fable of Broadway Guys and Dolls will play the indoor stage. Based on a story and characters of Damon Runyon, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, Guys and Dolls will be directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes, returning to the Globe after the great successes of Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, which he directed, and Bright Star, which he choreographed. Roll the dice on our first-ever production of this Broadway masterpiece as Guys and Dolls runs July 2 - August 13, with opening night on July 7, presented in association with Asolo Repertory Theatre. Filled with gangsters and showgirls, Guys and Dolls features some of the most wonderful showtunes ever written, including "Luck Be a Lady," "I've Never Been in Love Before," and the irrepressible anthem "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat." Guys and Dolls will put a spring in your step and a smile on your face and remind you how much fun it is to see a top-notch Globe revival of a classic American musical! Tickets start at $40 and are on sale now to the general public.

Rounding out the season will be Ken Ludwig's Robin Hood! The inventive comic genius whose Baskerville brought Sherlock Holmes to the Globe is back with a brand-new Globe-commissioned world premiere comedy about another icon: Robin Hood. Packed with thrills, romance, laughs, and great characters like Little John, Friar Tuck, and Maid Marian, Robin Hood! tells the timeless story of a hero of the people who takes on the powers that be. So get ready to duck a quarterstaff or two-you won't want to miss a moment of the swashbuckling fun! Ken Ludwig's Robin Hood! will play July 22 - August 27, with opening night on July 30. Tickets start at $39 and are on sale now to the general public.

King Richard II is supported in part through gifts from Production Sponsors Hal and Pam Fuson, Darlene Marcos Shiley, and Qualcomm, as well as Artist Sponsors Diane and John Berol (for Robert Sean Leonard) and The Jeannie Polinsky Rivkin Artistic Fund (for director Erica Schmidt). Hamlet is supported in part through gifts from Production Sponsors Ann Davies, Pam Farr and Buford Alexander, Joan and Irwin Jacobs, Qualcomm, Jean and Gary Shekhter, Gillian and Tony Thornley, Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Fund, and Vicki and Carl Zeiger, as well as Artist Sponsors June Yoder (for the performer playing Hamlet, TBA) and Sue and Edward "Duff" Sanderson (for the performer playing Laertes, TBA). Guys and Dolls is supported in part through gifts from Production Sponsors Mary Beth Adderley, Elaine and Dave Darwin, Ann Davies, Paula and Brian Powers, and Darlene Marcos Shiley, as well as Artist Sponsors Sue and Edward "Duff" Sanderson (for director Josh Rhodes) and Union Bank (for Terence Archie). Ken Ludwig's Robin Hood! is supported in part through gifts from Production Sponsors California Bank & Trust, Sheila and Jeffrey Lipinsky, Paula and Brian Powers, Jean and Gary Shekhter, Theatre Forward, Evelyn Mack Truitt, and Pam Wagner and Hans Tegebo, as well as Artist Sponsor Jo Ann Kilty (for the performer playing Robin Hood, TBA).

Admission is free for the Monday night Shakespeare film screenings. Seating for each film is first-come, first-served and by general admission. Line begins one hour before each screening.

Summer Season subscriptions offer substantial savings on this exciting lineup of shows, and range from $116-$374. Subscriptions and single tickets 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. 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 theatres and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for over 80 years. Under the leadership of Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, 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, 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 theatre's artistic and arts engagement programs. Numerous world premieres such as the 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Bright Star, Allegiance, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 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 theatres across the country.

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