10/25/2026
JT’s origin story in a nutshell…
Before it had a theatre, San Diego's youth stage company rehearsed in an old Balboa Park food and beverage building. đźŽ
In 1948, at the suggestion of Old Globe artistic director Craig Noel, Irma Fraser MacPherson and Mary Corrigan formed the Junior Theatre Workshop of the San Diego Community Theater, which is now the Old Globe. They directed students aged eight to eighteen. Early performances happened wherever there was room: Falstaff's Tavern at the Old Globe, the Wegeforth Bowl at the San Diego Zoo, a junior high school auditorium and the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater stage.
In 1951 the group was renamed the San Diego Junior Theatre Wing of the Old Globe. By 1953 the city's Park and Recreation Department took over sponsorship. During the 1971-72 season, Junior Theatre moved into its current home in the Casa del Prado Theatre.
It calls itself the oldest educational youth theatre program in the country, and its alumni include Broadway names such as Brian Stokes Mitchell and Casey Nicholaw. Which Balboa Park stage do you think launched more careers than any other?
