This year Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! celebrates its 24th holiday season at The Old Globe. That’s an astonishing run by any measure: presidents and potentates have come and gone, but The Grinch endures. Children who were featured in our company two decades ago are now adults with kids of their own. And new generations of theatregoers continue to settle into our seats for their first dose of Seussian sweetness and magic.

But at this complicated moment, producing The Grinch is even more remarkable. The Great Intermission that began in March 2020 made it impossible to do the show in the holiday season of that year, and so we pivoted to a wonderful and very successful radio version that we created in partnership with our friends at KPBS. For a few moments, we thought that perhaps we’d have to turn to the airwaves again this year. Thankfully, sensible public health measures got us back on track, and the miraculous scientific achievement of a safe and effective vaccine allowed us to gather in person, and in joy. All of The Old Globe’s operation worked hard to get us here, and our brilliant staff rose to meet this moment in ways that I really must salute. Our people and their devotion to the idea that theatre matters to San Diego are why we’re able to bring this moving and beautiful show to you. I thank them.

The Grinch is on our stage thanks to the generosity of Audrey Geisel, one of the Globe’s most valued friends. I had the special privilege of getting to know Audrey in the last years of her life. I’d visit her office in La Jolla, which was the very room in which her late husband Theodor Geisel, Dr. Seuss himself, wrote and drew the books that have become central to the lives of children worldwide. It was a true thrill to be there, and a special delight to be able to thank Audrey in person for her ongoing support. Now it is an honor to memorialize her here by noting that her ongoing largess will support and stabilize this institution for generations to come. She changed the Globe in her lifetime by setting this production in motion, and she sustains us in her death through a powerful legacy of support.

This year more than any before it, I am grateful to have this happy and spectacular (and big and green and hairy) tradition so close to the heart of my professional and personal lives. It’s been a tough period for all of us, and while we rejoice to see our world spinning forward again, we know that there’s still much anxiety and uncertainty around us. These are the moments when the theatre really starts to do its work. This art form brings strangers together to create one audience, one community. It shows us great and moving stories, like this one: a classic fable about healing and family and love and the balm that is the holiday spirit. And magically, it makes us feel better.

On behalf of the Board, artists, and staff of The Old Globe, I wish you a joyous holiday season.

Thanks for coming. Enjoy the show.