SAN DIEGO: The Old Globe has announced the second cohort of directing fellows for its Classical Directing Fellowships program, led by the Globe’s Erna Finci Viterbi artistic director Barry Edelstein. The 2020 fellows are Meg DeBoard, Manoel Felciano, Lavina Jadhwani, and Edward Torres. The fellows will be in residence at the Old Globe March 16-21.

“Last year the Globe launched a new initiative aimed at enriching American Shakespeare, and the results were so exciting that we decided to make it a permanent program,” said Edelstein in a statement. “The Globe is one of the country’s leading producers of Shakespeare, and we embrace our role in training the artists who will carry this great writer’s canon forward and stage it with new imagination and innovative interpretation.”

The program is part of the Karen and Stuart Tanz Fellowships at the Old Globe, and will offer the fellows opportunities to meet with the Old Globe staff members and representatives from the San Diego theatre community. As part of the residency, Edelstein will present a series of workshops on Shakespeare’s text and the fellows will work with a company of professional actors to implement the techniques. The work will culminate in a private presentation.

“Our first cohort of fellows—Daniel Jàquez, Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, Sam White, and LA Williams—have already, in the course of only a year, made major contributions to American Shakespeare, and our second cohort is poised to do the same,” said Edelstein in a statement. “Meg, Lavina, Eddie, and Mano are artists of great skill and accomplishment, and the Globe is delighted to be part of their trajectory in this way. I’m particularly grateful to Karen and Stuart Tanz, whose philanthropy is central to this theatre and whose commitment to the future of our art form is as impactful as it is commendable. I look forward to another wonderful year of this fellowship as it grows in excellence and depth.”