Craig Noel: 60 Seasons at the Globe

Craig Noel

By Johnny McDonald

He has endured so much in 60 seasons at the Old Globe, from two devastating arson fires, fundraising, critical reviews, an occasional temperamental actor, playgoers’ moods and now, even low-flying aircraft approaching Lindbergh Field.

It has been a pleasant and sometimes sad whirlwind journey for Craig Noel, who wears two hats: executive director and director of plays at the Balboa Park institution. He’ll be 90 in August and still will be preparing for the next play.

“I joined the Globe in 1937 as a 20-year-old actor and have been here ever since,” Noel said from his small office atop the ticket office. “It was called San Diego Community Theater then.”

Two years later, he became a director, staging four of the season’s seven productions. Since then, he has done more than 225 plays while supporting and encouraging new playwrights, actors and theater artists.

“How did I get into directing? That’s simple — directors were paid, actors weren’t,” Noel recalled. “My choice was pretty clear as to which way to go. Once I started, I never wanted to act again.

“I felt I had a talent for it, and I directed 15 plays before the war. Fortunately, I had a contract with Fox studios in November, otherwise after Dec. 7, I would have been out of a job when Balboa Park became an extension of the Naval Hospital.”

The Globe was closed from 1941 to 1947.

The two arson fires hit hard, and at the time, a fundraising program might have seemed hopeless.

News of the 1978 Globe devastation generated an outpouring of financial, personal and moral support. Nearly $500,000 in unsolicited contributions was received during the 30 days immediately after the fire.

In 1982, the new 581-seat Old Globe Theater opened with a production of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” When the Festival Stage, built in 37 days as a replacement, was destroyed by another arson fire in 1984, the new 612-seat Lowell Davies Festival Theater was constructed in 1985.

With a smile, Noel talked about famous playwright Neil Simon, who has had several plays presented at the Globe.

“He’s a great craftsman who likes to make changes,” Noel said. “Cutting, cutting, cutting... Simon was ruthless. You had to encourage him not to cut anymore. Actors were going crazy.”

Noel said he was very fond of Globe performers — later to be successful movie and television actresses — Marion Ross and Faye Emerson, and the late Victor Buono: “a born actor from junior theater who could play a character of 45 when he was only 18.”

He found it hard to single out others because he said he admired so many.

Professional actors and Eastern directors were hired for the first time in the 1952 and ’53 seasons, thus elevating the standards to national stature.

“My favorite play is always the one I’m working on,” was a familiar reply. “You have to like it and believe in it.”

Surprisingly, he says a reviewer will let him down sometimes with a rave review “when I didn’t like the play much. I hoped the reviewer would pan it. I consider that a bad review, especially when they say it’s some of the best work you’ve ever done.”

He says actors are like children, who have temper tantrums. “I’d just say, let’s throw a fit here, go ahead and do it...sort of mimicking them. I haven’t had any real difficulties.

“Planes can be bothersome now because they don’t make as wide a circle and we hear them in the Festival theater, especially the little ones.”

Theatergoers’ preferences have changed. Noel says they prefer new plays now; in the past, they just wanted revivals like “Mr. Roberts” and “You Can’t Take It With You.”

He admitted, with some embarrassment, that he had never read a novel in his life. He’s been too busy reading scripts along with his play-reading committee.

Noel’s most recent world-premiere productions include Lillian Garrett-Groag’s “The White Rose” and Reuben Gonzalez’s “The Boiler Room.” He also directed the U.S. premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s “Mr. A’s Amazing Maze Plays” and “Intimate Exchanges.” He directed Ross in Joe DiPietro’s “Over The River And Through The Woods.”