Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In 1948, a class of Odessa High School seniors proposed the local construction of a Tudor playhouse. The idea stuck, with architect J. Ellsworth Powell drawing blueprints and Odessa College donating land. Fundraising for the project—led by Marjorie Morris, one of the original group of students and later an instructor at Odessa College—took 20 years. The Globe of the Great Southwest opened in 1968 with the inaugural Odessa Shakespeare Festival, staging a full play and compilation show. A replica of the original Globe Theatre in London, the octagonal structure seats around 400 people.
This silent news footage for Odessa's KOSA-TV captures a precursor to the official festival in 1965.
Explore the web exhibit, Festival Season, at: bit.ly/4pUGtjE
Contributed to the Texas Moving Image Archive Program by the University of Texas Permian Basin.
#globeofthegreatsouthwest #shakespeare
In 1948, a class of Odessa High School seniors proposed the local construction of a Tudor playhouse. The idea stuck, with architect J. Ellsworth Powell drawing blueprints and Odessa College donating land. Fundraising for the project—led by Marjorie Morris, one of the original group of students and later an instructor at Odessa College—took 20 years. The Globe of the Great Southwest opened in 1968 with the inaugural Odessa Shakespeare Festival, staging a full play and compilation show. A replica of the original Globe Theatre in London, the octagonal structure seats around 400 people.
This silent news footage for Odessa's KOSA-TV captures a precursor to the official festival in 1965.
Explore the web exhibit, Festival Season, at: bit.ly/4pUGtjE
Contributed to the Texas Moving Image Archive Program by the University of Texas Permian Basin.
#globeofthegreatsouthwest #shakespeare
