The Old Globe Theatre has just appointed Adena Varner as its new director of arts engagement. She will lead a department of more than 30 employees and teach artists that engage tens of thousands of people in neighborhoods around San Diego in theatre and theatre-related programming.
Theater has always been a part of Varner's life, if not always in a conventional way.
"My mother is such a storyteller," Varner said. "Her and my grandmother both, which is also interesting because they're by profession educators, but big personalities, very active. (They) can't tell you a story seated. They must stand and act it out. So I grew up in that kind of lively, vibrant household."
It's that sense of storytelling that is at the heart of what theater does and what excites Varner.
"Being able to share experiences and share traditions, share culture, share who we are — just as humans — with loved ones, friends, family, community. I think that is something that young people — that all people — really should be empowered to do and have the skills and tools to do," Varner said. "Whether it's on a stage or in some other outlet. Just being able to share and present the things that are valuable to you and the things that you're curious about. Being able to listen and receive and appreciate someone else's stories, I think that is the fundamental truth to our craft."
The public readily sees what the Globe is doing in terms of staging shows. But the arts engagement side of the organization is not as well known.
Varner explained that she is tasked with "an opportunity to invite people to participate and to get involved, sometimes off the main stage. It's an opportunity for us to come into community spaces, whether it's a school or a recreation center, or a senior center, or even a justice center, and to share the tools of theater, making theater with folks so that, again, they can kind of create their own content. But also, I think it's an opportunity for us to continue to raise awareness and raise the profile of the work that the Globe does in spaces and with people who maybe traditionally have been marginalized and not felt welcomed into our home."
Varner will not officially begin her work at the Globe until August, but that does not mean she hasn't already thought about what she wants to do.
"I think one of the things that's most interesting to me is the work we're continuing to do with Shakespeare, and honoring what is classic and honoring that canon," Varner said. "I'm really excited about the after-school work that's happening and the partnerships that we have with schools. I'm also really excited about some of the work that we do with our seniors, that kind of holds a special place in my heart. My grandparents are very important to me. My village is very important to me. And that is also a marginalized community. A lot of the times we forget about our seniors and our elders, and so we have active relationships with that community as well."
Varner is also excited about being in a border city.
"We are so close to Tijuana, and the work that we get to do internationally, it feels like we're just scratching the surface," Varner said. "We actually can change the world — actually! So, I'm excited about what's happening across the border and that we have a footprint there. And that's something that has the potential to do amazing transformational work globally."
