the week of february 14-20, 2025

an open-ended run of an immersive dystopia

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Graphic Design: Elizabeth Morton | Editorial Support: Ryan Adelsheim

In the midst of destroying multiple federal agencies, our failsons-in-charge Donald Trump and Elon Musk found new kindling for their five-alarm constitutional fire: arts and culture.

The Kennedy Center

• Explanatory Comma: Located in Washington, DC, The Kennedy Center is the nation’s cultural center. The performance complex hosts theatre, dance, music, opera, touring productions, and educational arts programming, including the American College Theater Festival (KCACTF).

  • The Center’s $268 million budget is drawn from earned revenue, ticket sales, private donations, and federal appropriations. The government funding — only 16% of the total operating costs — covers repairs and maintenance costs related the site’s status as a living memorial for President Kennedy.

• February 7: Trump terminated half of the Kennedy Center’s bipartisan Board of Directors (plus chairman David M. Rubenstein), replacing all of Biden’s recent appointees with Republican loyalists.

• February 12: The new board installed Trump as chairman and fired current president Deborah Rutter, replacing her with former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell. (Grenell does not appear to have any experience in the arts or arts administration, making him an on-brand hire for a government run by unqualified men.)

• Trump cited drag shows “targeting our youth” as the impetus for his takeover. (He admitted to reporters that he has not visited the Center, but “receives reports on it.”) The Kennedy Center presents over 2,200 events annually; a miniscule amount feature drag performance. It is yet another component of the administration’s inhumane quest to demonize and eradicate LGBTQ people. Speaking of which…

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

• Explanatory Comma: The NEA is an independent federal agency and the largest national funder of the arts and arts education. (It also supports state and regional arts councils.) The FY24 budget was $207 million, an all-time high. (For comparison’s sake, the Department of Defense FY24 budget was $841.4 billion.)
  

  • February 6: The NEA eliminated its Challenge America grants, which for over twenty years funded “arts projects that extend the reach of the arts to underserved groups and communities that may have limited access to the arts relative to geography, ethnicity, economic status, and/or disability.” A tiny sample of past recipients: an arts program for Native American residents at a North Carolina nursing facility, a free ticketing program at a Florida theatre, and a student literacy initiative in Wyoming. Will Bowling, the director of education at Relative Theatrics in Laramie, WY who runs the latter program, told the Washington Post (gift link):
    
    “I feel like the Challenge America program is on the chopping block specifically because it helps support communities with lesser access to the arts and, in some verbiage, may be considered ‘marginalized’ or ‘underserved’ — which are now rapidly becoming keywords that are associated with diversity, inclusion, equity and access…Wyoming is also one of the most underserved states in terms of access to artistic, cultural resources, and that’s sometimes just based on geography. Our cities are many hundreds of miles apart. One of the schools I serve is about 40 miles outside of town, stuck in the middle of the prairies. So providing arts access to rural communities is a really important component.”
    

• The NEA also posted updated guidelines for its grant programs, which fund theatres (and state & regional arts councils) across the country. Grant recipients must now agree to “comply with all applicable Executive Orders”, “not operate any programs promoting ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)’”, or “use federal funds to promote gender ideology.”

First of all, a friendly reminder that executive orders aren’t laws — they are interpretations of existing law for enforcement purposes — and most of Trump’s recent EOs are vague or straight up unconstitutional. (The majority are also poorly written, which is embarrassing since the Project 2025 ghouls had multiple years to finesse their ChatGPT-ass prose.) Executive orders can’t override federal laws and statutes, which need to be passed by Congress then signed by the president. Every single news article should reiterate basic civics lessons since no one, including many members of Congress, seem to understand checks and balances or the legislative process.

Throughout history, authoritarian regimes have recognized art as a crucial instrument of power, seizing control of cultural institutions and restricting creative expression. Art teaches us that lives other than our own have value — and Trump’s ideology hinges on an active rejection of empathy.

It’s all very grim. I feel terrible for the Kennedy Center and NEA employees, many of whom are working artists, practitioners, and advocates in the DC theatre community. Right now, it’s imperative that theatres and institutions reject the confusion and fear these executive orders are designed to generate. I was briefly heartened by New Harmony Project executive artistic director Jenni Werner’s ten-toes-down open letter in response to the NEA guidelines. Here’s an excerpt:

…In short, the Trump Administration has told The New Harmony Project that we must abandon our values and principles and turn our backs on our diverse and inclusive community in exchange for future NEA funding. We say in response:

Our values are not for sale.

…At a time when racist, transphobic, and bigoted voices are being amplified at the highest levels of the federal government, The New Harmony Project will continue to be a just, equitable, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive organization. We will prioritize people over process, programs, or federal funding.

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world premieres

• D.A. Mindell’s On the Evolutionary Function of Shame is now running Off Broadway at Second Stage. Jess McLeod directs the “compelling exploration of the complex relationship between a transgender man expecting a child and his scientist twin sister.”

• Julián Mesri’s The Irrepressible Magic of The Tropics runs February 15-March 16 at INTAR Theatre. The “farcical romp through Latin American history and literature and a critical exploration of capitalism, colonialism and US-led economic imperialism” is directed by Kathleen Capdesuñer.

• Joe DiPietro, Daniel J. Watts, and Crystal Monee Hall’s 3 Summers of Lincoln starts performances February 18th at La Jolla Playhouse. Christopher Ashley directs the “gripping new musical about the three meetings between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass that changed the course of history.”

• Jessica Kahkoska’s In Her Bones is now running through March 2nd at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. The exploration of “crypto-Judaism in the Southwest, secrecy, faith, fear, and how we pass on culture when written records are too dangerous to keep” is directed by Rebecca Martinez.

productions

• Conor McPherson’s adaptation of Uncle Vanya starts performances February 14th at Berkeley Rep. The “heartbreaking comedy about the eternal battle between futility and change” is directed by Simon Godwin.

• Doug Robinson’s The Figs runs February 14 - March 16 at Rorschach Theatre in Washington, DC. Randy Baker directs the immersive fable about “a fig-obsessed king’s bizarre contest that sets off a whirlwind adventure featuring quirky farmers, a lovesick innkeeper, and a chaotic storyteller.”

• Enda Walsh, Anna Mullarkey, and Kate Gilmore’s Safe House starts performances February 15 at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. The electrifying show centers on “a young woman who, in search of safety, transforms an outdoor handball court into a vivid, self-made world of song, sounds, and visceral memories.”

• John Kani’s Kunene and the King runs February 16 - March 16 at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC. Ruben Santiago-Hudson directs the “powerful examination of Shakespeare and post-apartheid South Africa.”

• Lisa Sanaye Dring’s Sumo starts performances February 20th Off Broadway at The Public Theater in a co-production with Ma-Yi Theater Company and La Jolla Playhouse. Ralph B. Peña directs the “mesmerizing new drama set in the elite and rarely explored world of sumo training in Tokyo.”

• Lori Goodman’s Touch runs February 20 - March 16 at The Tank in NYC. The Florida-set comedy about “navigating life after loss, reaching across the generational divide, getting older, and just being human” is directed by Janice L. Goldberg.

workshops & readings

• Miranda Rose Hall’s The Sandwich Ministry will have a reading on February 17th at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore. Tuyết Thị Phạm directs the new work about “three small-town women making sandwiches for neighbors who’ve been displaced from their homes by floods, as they contend with the storm’s damage” and the tenuous strength of their friendship.

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2025 season updates

• Williamstown Theatre Festival announced its summer season. The line-up includes Tennessee Williams' Camino Real (directed by Dustin Wills), Tennessee Williams' Not About Nightingales (directed by Robert O’Hara); the Heartbeat Opera production of Samuel Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti's Vanessa, and two world premieres: Jeremy O. Harris’ Spirit of the People and an untitled piece by Will Davis staged at an ice rink.

• Barrington Stage Company announced its upcoming season. The Berkshires theater’s line-up includes Mario Correa's N/A, Rajiv Joseph's King James (directed by Rob Ruggerio, co-pro with TheaterWorks Hartford and Round House), Daniel Goldstein's Joan (directed by David Ivers), Richard Hellesen’s Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground (directed by Peter Ellenstein), Lerner and Loewe’s musical Camelot (directed by Alan Paul), and two world premieres: Jeff Talbott and Will Van Dyke’s musical fuzzy (directed by Ellie Heyman) and May Treuhaft-Ali's The Yom Kippur Play (directed by Sivan Battat).