Louis G. Spisto has served as Executive Director of The Old Globe since October, 2002. During his tenure, Spisto spearheaded the return of the Globe’s Shakespeare Repertory Season and brought to the Globe several new musicals, including the recent critically-acclaimed John Doyle and Harvey Fierstein collaboration, A Catered Affair, the launch of the national tour of the Tony Award-winning Avenue Q and the Broadway transfers Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, the Twyla Tharp/Bob Dylan musical, THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’. He has produced over 75 plays and musicals, including Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the west coast premiere of the Tony Award-winning play Take Me Out and the Globe’s annual holiday favorite, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.
Lou is a board member and treasurer of The National Alliance of Musical Theatre. Spisto has managed the Globe’s Capital Campaign, launched in March 2006, to raise $75 million by the Theatre’s 75th anniversary in 2010. The campaign has reached 75% of its goal to date, including a $20 million gift from Donald and Darlene Shiley, a $10 million gift from Conrad Prebys, and a $1.6 million grant from the California Cultural and Historical Endowment.
During the past four seasons, the organization has grown its subscription audience an unprecedented amount, countering a trend in the non-profit theatre industry, resulting in the highest level of attendance in over a decade. The Globe was also recognized by Charity Navigator, America’s premiere charity evaluator, which recently gave the Globe its third consecutive 4-Star rating (for sound fiscal management and funds dedicated to the program vs. overhead), a distinction achieved by only 9% of the charities rated.
A strong advocate of arts education, Spisto initiated several new programs including an innovative cross-border program involving students from both San Diego and Tijuana in a unique bilingual production of Romeo and Juliet. He also launched a free matinee series which brings thousands of students to the Globe’s main stage productions.
Spisto established a reputation as a superb arts executive here in California, where he spent over ten years as the Executive Director of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Orange County. During his tenure there, he tripled the orchestra’s annual budget, all while eliminating a prior deficit and successfully completing the orchestra’s first endowment campaign. In addition, he established a series of innovative recording projects with Sony Classical and oversaw a number of nationally recognized commissioning projects. He also served as the chief executive at both American Ballet Theatre and The Detroit Symphony. He holds a Masters degree from the University of Wisconsin in Arts Administration and a Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame, and spent many years directing, producing and as an actor in plays and musicals throughout his college and graduate school years, as well as in professional summer theatre.
