Couple wages 11-year battle to build local Globe Theater




IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers PUT ON A SHOW- Geoffrey Forward and Elisabeth Howard spent more than $1 million of their own money over 11 years to build the Globe Theater on Topanga Canyon Boulevard. The theater provides a venue for professional actors to perform Shakespeare and musicians to give concerts.

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers PUT ON A SHOW- Geoffrey Forward and Elisabeth Howard spent more than $1 million of their own money over 11 years to build the Globe Theater on Topanga Canyon Boulevard. The theater provides a venue for professional actors to perform Shakespeare and musicians to give concerts.


After a “one-year project” turned into an 11year undertaking, Elisabeth Howard and Geoffrey Forward, a husbandand-wife performing arts team, have finally realized their dream.

The couple opened the Globe Theater in Topanga last September with successful productions of “Twelfth Night” and “The Fantasticks,” but despite the relief of finally getting the Tudorstyle theater off the ground, Howard and Forward are only cautiously celebrating.

“It took us so long that we literally ran out of money,” said Forward, who pulled the property out of foreclosure last Friday. “We had to mortgage our house four times over the process. And we had to use the money we had set aside for publicity and advertising. Now we are on the verge of being closed down because we were being held up for so long.”

Howard has two degrees in voice from the Juilliard School of Music and runs Vocal Power Academy, a company which teaches singers and certifies singing teachers.

Forward is an actor, director and Shakespearean scholar. He founded the Los Angeles Shakespeare Company in 1992.

The couple met in the early 1980s at an opera where one of Howard’s students was performing. The student happened to be Forward’s singing teacher, and he was there to watch his teacher perform.

“We met at intermission,” Howard said. “Then we saw each other at a wedding the next week. We started dating and married eight months later.”

They have been married for 25 years.

The couple moved to Topanga in 1996. Renting spaces for the Shakespeare Company became very expensive, so when the property next to their home went up for sale, Howard and Forward decided to buy it.

“It was a terrific place to put a theater,” Forward said. “It was just beautiful.”

They began to teach workshops and perform on a platform outside but eventually decided they needed a bathroom. The county planning department said they needed to build a building in order to install a bathroom.

“We started with the idea for a small space, just dressing room and storage, and of course, the bathroom,” Forward said. “But then we decided if we were going to do all that, we may as well put a second story on it. Then came the idea for a Tudorstyle theater- we wanted to make it look like Shakespeare’s birthplace.”

The couple hadn’t expected the permits to take more than seven years to secure. There were weather issues as well as constant battles with the county’s building and safety departments. Costly loans became even more expensive when they needed to refinance after construction was stalled.

It wasn’t until 11 years later that Howard and Forward finally opened the doors to the Globe Theater last year. Howard called the ordeal nothing short of “torture.”

“It was definitely all worth it if we can find the help to keep the theater open,” Forward said. “We’ve gone through many, many sleepless nights, and we are still having them. Often I wake up in the middle of the night thinking, ‘How are we going to keep this alive?'”

The couple is looking for a board of directors to help them build an audience base and find sponsors.

“The Los Angeles Shakespeare Company is going to be something that Los Angeles can be proud of,” Forward said. “The best talent in the world comes to L.A. or lives in L.A. And in between doing motion pictures or television, they love to do Shakespeare.”

“The Merry Wives of Windsor” will run through March 2. “Othello” opens March 14. Shakespeare Company productions for the summer season include “King Lear,” “King John” and “The Taming of the Shrew.”

Shows are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. On the first Sunday of every month a chamber music group performs. The couple also plans to open a children’s summer camp.

The Globe Theater is at 1909 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd. Tickets are usually $25 for adults and $20 for seniors and students.

For more information, call (310) 455-9400 or visit www.Shakespeare-usa.com.

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