the week of march 28 - april 3, 2025

nothing for the group text

Mar 28, 2025

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the kennedy center of chaos and lies, cont’d

The Kennedy Center laid off the majority of its social impact team this week, including artistic director Marc Bamuthi Joseph. (Here’s a gift link to the Washington Post’s reporting.)

The division oversaw multiple audience-building initiatives and community partnerships designed to make art accessible to those who have historically been excluded from cultural institutions like the Kennedy Center. The social impact team also operated the Local Theatre Residency, which provided space, funds, and development time to DC-area companies and artists.

The rest of the KC staff received equally ominous news—more layoffs are coming, but no timeline or details were provided. (Anyone who's experienced this particular indignity knows that nothing corrodes workplace morale faster than employment purgatory!) New CFO Donna Arduin delivered the standard austerity sermon via email: “for years, the Kennedy Center has been budgeting to lose money…[we will be] reducing expenses enterprise-wide and will be using Key Performance Indicators to drive business decisions going forward.”

But here's where that narrative collapses under its own pretense: the social impact division wasn't some financial albatross. It was permanently funded by an $8 million endowment from local philanthropists Allan and Shelley Holt. And if we're really discussing KPIs, social impact events more than doubled between 2021 and 2023, with in-person audiences growing from approximately 10,000 attendees to over 65,000. By any metric, the social impact team was crushing it.

These layoffs represent another chapter in America's ongoing brain drain, following the federal government's systematic defunding of scientists, researchers, and academic institutions. Authoritarians target artists and intellectuals because creativity, knowledge, and expression foster dissent. These regimes identify the voices challenging power structures, then dismantle their platforms under the guise of efficiency or economic necessity.

Artists envision new worlds and invite others to do the same. Imagination is profoundly dangerous to those who benefit from the status quo. It’s not surprising that the Kennedy Center’s first sacrifices were the artists tasked with expanding the circle of who gets to participate in American cultural life.

The Kennedy Center's decision to eliminate its social impact team may seem small compared to America’s other raging political fires. (This week’s subject line alludes to one.) But what we're witnessing isn't fiscal responsibility—it’s cultural decimation. It echoes the broader governmental effort to erase contributions from women, the LGBTQ+ community, and people of color from our public history. The pattern is becoming distressingly familiar: first target the visionaries, then rewrite the story as if they were never there.

world premieres

Emma Horwitz and Bailey Williams’ Two Sisters Find a Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods starts performances March 28th at HERE Arts Center in a co-production with Rattlestick Theater and New Georges. Tara Elliott directs the “surreal, delirious, and intimate theatrical experience in which the playwrights and real-life partners transform an intimate archive of bankers boxes into a burlesque of fiction and reality.”
Neena Beber’s A Mother runs March 29 – April 13 at Baryshnikov Arts in New York. Co-conceived with Jessica Hecht, the “part documentary, part autobiography, part disco paying homage to Brecht’s powerful, seldom-performed play and creating a visceral experience of loss, resilience, and transformation” is directed by Maria Mileaf and choreographed by Shura Baryshnikov.
Jake Brasch’s The Reservoir starts performances March 29th at The Alliance in Atlanta in a co-pro with Denver Center and The Geffen Playhouse. Shelley Butler directs the new work about a “lost, neurotic mess of a twenty-something moving home to get sober and finding unlikely allies in his four grandparents.”
Sharyn Rothstein’s Bad Books runs April 2 - 27 at Round House Theatre in Bethesda, MD as part of the Bonnie Hammerschlag National Capital New Play Festival. Ryan Rilette directs the new work about a “reasonable discussion between a parent and a librarian about ‘appropriate’ reading material that quickly turns into a heated confrontation, sparking a dramatic chain reaction of unexpected consequences.”
francisca da silveira’s minor.ity runs March 29 - April 27 in a co-pro between WP Theater and Colt Coeur in NYC. The “powerful three-hander that interrogates Black identity, the plurality of the African diaspora, and what it means to be a sought-after artist of color” is directed by Shariffa Ali.
Jennifer Crittenden, Gabrielle Allan, Curtis Moore, and Amanda Green’s musical Regency Girls starts performances April 2 at The Old Globe in San Diego. Set in 19th century England, the “riotous adventure of love, rebellion, autonomy, and self-discovery” is directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes.
Jonathan Spector’s Birthright runs April 3 - 27 at Miami New Drama. Teddy Bergman directs the drama chronicling “eighteen years of six friends wrestling each in their own way with this central question: Am I living the life I am supposed to be living as a Jew in America?”
Larissa FastHorse’s Fake It Until You Make It runs April 3 - May 4 at Arena Stage in Washington, DC in a co-pro with Center Theatre Group. The “uproarious comedy about a collision of friends and foes within the non-profit sector [that leads to] a whirlwind of competition, chaos, and comedic revelation” is directed by Michael John Garcés.
Mona Pirnot’s I'm Assuming You Know David Greenspan resumes performances March 29th Off Broadway at The Atlantic. Ken Rus Schmoll directs the “comedy (full of drama) about how to make a living as a playwright (or to try) [starring] one 68-year-old man playing four millennial women.”
- You may recall this production originally started previews four days before the Atlantic’s crew went on strike in January. After two months, The Atlantic and the labor union IATSE reached a tentative agreement and the production workers ratified their new contract earlier this week. Per IATSE, the new contract contains “significant improvements to wages and working conditions—and workers will gain contributions to health and retirement funds for the first time.”

productions

Conor McPherson’s adaptation of Uncle Vanya starts performances March 30 at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC. Simon Godwin directs the “heartbreaking comedy about the eternal battle between futility and change.”
Wole Soyinka’s The Swamp Dwellers runs March 30 - April 20 at Theatre for a New Audience in Brooklyn, NY. Awoye Timpo directs the “rarely produced 1958 drama chronicling one day in the life of a Nigerian family before the country’s independence.”
Jen Silverman’s The Roommate starts performances March 30th at CenterREP in Walnut Creek, CA. The “two-hander on what it means to be middle aged, middle class, and in the middle of America—and how to change it all by throwing caution to the wind” is directed by Vanessa Stalling.
FlawBored’s It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure runs April 2-13 at ArtsEmerson in Boston. The UK-based, disability-led theatre company presents a “scathing, hilarious satire on the monetization of identity politics which spares no one.”
Caryl Churchill’s Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp. starts performances April 3th Off Broadway at The Public Theater. The “kaleidoscope of four wildly inventive new works” is directed by James Macdonald.
Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s cullud wattah runs April 3 - 27 at Mosaic Theater Company in Washington, DC. Danielle A. Drakes directs the “powerful new play about a tight-knit family in 2016-era Flint, MI threatened by more than just the toxicity of the water.”
Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me runs April 3-13 at Oklahoma City Rep. The “boundary-breaking show tracing the profound relationship between four generations of women and the founding document that changed their lives” is directed by Jessica Holt.
Brian Friel’s Translations starts performances April 3rd at Writers Theatre in Glencoe, IL. Braden Abraham directs the classic Irish drama and “celebration of the power of language.”
Heloise Wilson’s Astronauts Wanted runs April 3 - 27 at The Tank in NYC. The “poetic multimedia piece inspired by the Mars One Project, which aimed to send the first human beings to Mars” is directed by Saki Kawamura.

workshops, readings & festivals

Ngozi Anyanwu’s THE MONSTERS will have a reading on March 31st as part of the Ted Snowdon Reading Series at Manhattan Theatre Club. Anyanwu also directs the “sibling love story about reunions, resentment, reconnection, and wrestling with demons.” (MTC recently announced it will be co-producing the world premiere of this play in its 2025-26 season.)
Liliana Padilla’s How To Defend Yourself will have a staged reading on March 31 & April 1 at Shotgun Players in Berkeley, CA. Gracie Brakeman directs the 2019 work about “seven college students at a DIY self-defense workshop fighting back against the insidious ways rape culture steals one’s body and sense of belonging.”
Martha Redbone will present an “open-studio” performance of her new commissioned work Guardian Spirit: The Words of bell hooks on March 29th at The Apollo in Harlem. The “multidisciplinary musical exploration of bell hooks’ landmark work Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place” is created in collaboration with composer and pianist Aaron Whitby.
Primary Stages’ 2025 Fresh Ink Reading Series runs April 1-11 at 59E59 in NYC. This year’s line-up includes Clarence Coo’s The Parser, Adrian Einspanier’s Untitled Project, Eric Micha Holmes’s Untitled Project, Sarah Gancher’s Human Development, and Jonathan Norton’s Clark County Playhouse Presents The Groundbreaking PG-13 Version Of Angels In America In The First Days Of The New Plague.
Origin’s 1st Irish runs April 1 - 20 at 59E59 in NYC. The city-wide festival celebrating Irish playwrights includes two productions from Dublin’s Fishamble Theatre Company: Gavin Kostick’s Fight Night (directed by Bryan Burroughs) and Joanne Ryan’s In Two Minds (directed by Sarah Jane Scaife).

2025-26 season updates

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis announced its 2025-26 season. The line-up includes Sandy Rustin’s The Cottage, Stephen Mallatratt’s adaptation of The Woman in Black, Kate Hamill’s adaptation of Emma, Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust, Indian Ink Theatre Company’s Mrs. Krishnan’s Party, David Kwong’s The Enigmatist, and Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, and Stephen Sondheim’s musical Gypsy.
Pittsburgh Public Theater announced its 2025-26 season. The theatre will produce Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, A Christmas Story, Amy Herzog’s adaptation of An Enemy of the People, and Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust.
Hartford Stage announced its 2025-26 season. The line-up includes the world premiere of Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Rope (directed by Melia Bensussen), Sandy Rustin’s The Cottage (directed by Zoë Golub-Sass), Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (directed by Melia Bensussen), Karen Zacarías’ Native Gardens, and Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd (directed by Rob Ruggiero, co-pro with TheaterWorks Hartford).
Portland Center Stage announced its 2025-26 season. The Oregon theatre will produce Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust (directed by Chip Miller); Lauren Gunderson’s adaptation of Little Women (directed by Joanie Schultz, co-pro with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Henry Lewis, Henry Shields & Jonathan Sayer’s The Play That Goes Wrong (directed by Dámaso Rodriguez, a co-production with Seattle Rep); Justin Huertas’ musical Lizard Boy; James Ijames’ Fat Ham (directed by Charles Grant; co-pro with Portland Playhouse); Kristina Wong, #FoodBankInfluencer (written and performed by Kristina Wong); and Storm Large and James Beaton’s Storm Large Makes It Home.

the regional theatre game of thrones

Dawn M. Simmons is the new artistic director of SpeakEasy Stage in Boston. The Boston-based director, producer, and playwright succeeds Paul Daigneault, who founded and led the company for more than three decades.

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