More than 30 years ago, theater lovers in metro Atlanta got a distressing lesson in what can happen when an arts institution becomes the victim of right-wing culture warriors.
It happened in August 1993, when the conservative Republican Cobb County commission canceled public funding for all arts groups in the county as a protest over the Marietta Theater in the Square’s production of Terrance McNally’s play “Lips Together, Teeth Apart.” The play outraged commissioners because it told the story of two straight couples who spent the weekend in a gay Fire Island community.
Terrence McNally’s play likely would have found a welcoming home in the theaters of ancient Greece, where tragedies as well as comedies were written to provoke audiences into questioning the basic order of the society in which they lived. The classic drama “Antigone” is a prime example.
In Socrates’ play, King Creon decrees that his niece Antigone be put to death for defying one of his commands. When his son Haemon challenges the order, Creon asks, “Am I to rule for others or myself?” Haemon responds: “A State for one man is no State at all,” leaving audiences to consider the ways in which power can transform leaders into autocrats.
As we watch President Trump assert executive powers unlike those of any president in our contemporary history, “Antigone” is clearly as relevant to our politics today as it was in ancient Greece. His sweeping effort to exert power across many institutions has even extended to the arts.
Earlier this month, President Trump fired many members of the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees and decreed he would assume the title of board chairman. The president announced his takeover in a Truth Social post:
“I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the board of trustees, including the chairman, who do not share our vision for a golden age in arts and culture. We will soon announce a new board with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!” (The caps are his.)
The Kennedy Center opened in 1971. In the five decades since then, it’s been the home to classical music, opera, popular Broadway musicals and plays, modern and classical ballet, children’s arts and much more.
The president’s takeover of the Kennedy Center raises significant questions about the role he may want to play in determining the programming of the Center.
Trump says he wants to create “a golden age of arts and culture.” But it remains to be seen what that means. Trump famously refused to see “Hamilton” but has said he’s a fan of “Evita” and “Phantom of the Opera,” two anodyne choices. Kid Rock performed at his Milwaukee convention, and of course, Lee Greenwood singing “God Bless the USA” has been a ubiquitous presence at his events. The Village People performed at his inaugural ball because Trump, somewhat inexplicably, can’t seem to get enough of “Y.M.C.A.” Who knows what his influence on programming at the Kennedy Center might look like?
He’d no doubt frown on a production of “The Crucible,” Arthur Miller’s play about the Salem witch trials written as a response to the wave of terror raised by Joseph McCarthy’s hunt for American communists. It’s unlikely it would pass Trump’s assertion that American history should no longer focus on the sins of our past.
Other great works would probably fail the Trump test, too. “Inherit the Wind,” which may offend evangelicals because, in the end, secular reasoning overcomes the literal word of the Bible, “Ragtime,” which builds one storyline around the downfall of two Black characters who are the victims of racism; Shakespeare’s “Richard II” because it tells the story of an English king overthrown. The list goes on.
And if Trump does hold sway over the programming at the Kennedy Center, what might happen to arts organizations around the country if MAGA followers begin to attack local theater and performance centers for their program choices just as they’ve overwhelmed local schools with attacks on books and curriculum?
Meaningful works of art – theater, paintings, poetry, dance and yes, even the best stand-up comics — can’t always be about simply comforting us and making us feel happy, which I fear is Trump’s view. No president has articulated the value of the arts for all of us than John F. Kennedy. Here’s what he said in a 1962 speech:
“Behind the storm of daily conflict and crisis, the dramatic confrontations, the tumult of political struggle, the poet, the artist, the musician continues the quiet work of centuries — building bridges of experience between people, reminding man of the universality of his feelings, his desires and despairs, and reminding him that the forces that unite are deeper than those that divide.
As he becomes chair of the Kennedy Center board, President Trump would benefit all of us who love the arts if he heeds the words of the man for whom the Center was named.
Bravo, Bill — important and timely perspectives, articulated with grace, and wisdom arising from experience.