MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Many of us have a venue we love - a theater or concert space where we really feel at home. But what do you do if that place goes through radical change? Well, that is what has been happening with audiences here in the D.C. region ever since President Trump took over the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts eight months ago. Trump abruptly fired its leaders, dismissed board members, criticized past programming as too woke. NPR's Elizabeth Blair wanted to find out where the fans are going.
ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: A Pride event by the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington moved to a church. A "Cabaret" performance marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War moved to a club across town and sold out. And singer and banjo player Rhiannon Giddens moved her show to a concert venue called The Anthem.
AUDREY FIX SCHAEFER: It turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous night. And she had more fans in the room in our venue than she could have had at the Kennedy Center had it gone through before.
BLAIR: Audrey Fix Schaefer is communications director for I.M.P., which owns or operates a number of venues in the D.C. area, including The Anthem, the 930 Club and Lincoln Theater.
FIX SCHAEFER: When the changes at the top of the Kennedy Center first happened, it was kind of a spasm in the community and with artists that were already booked to play.
BLAIR: It also rattled longtime Kennedy Center patrons. With multiple stages, the Kennedy Center has historically been a place for theater, dance, comedy, jazz, hip-hop and classical music lovers alike. It's home to the National Symphony Orchestra, though the NSO has its own management structure. Longtime patron Mitch Bassman says he and his family have been going to the Kennedy Center for some 30 years.
MITCH BASSMAN: We have been subscribers to the National Symphony Orchestra classical series for as long as I can remember, and for maybe a dozen years or so have been subscribers to the theater series. And my kids were active at the Kennedy Center when they were growing up. We've always enjoyed going there.
BLAIR: But when Bassman and his wife learned that the Kennedy Center's new leadership would be booking non-Equity shows, they decided to end their theater subscription.
BASSMAN: I'll be quite honest, I'm not a supporter of the current management of the Kennedy Center. But my wife and I are very firm supporters of the National Symphony Orchestra, and we did renew our season subscription to the NSO classical series.
BLAIR: The D.C. area has an abundance of places for live entertainment. Arena Stage is a theater where shows with Broadway ambitions often get their start. After a recent performance of "D*** Yankees," I talked to patron Mason Eiss. He says he used to like going to the Kennedy Center so much, he moved to be closer to it.
MASON EISS: I was excited, or, like - yeah, before everything happened. So it's been upsetting, but glad that we have other fantastic options in D.C.
BLAIR: Eiss says he recently bought his first subscription to National Theater, D.C.'s main stop for Broadway tours. People are making choices, says theater artist Aaron Posner. He's currently directing a play at Ford's Theatre.
AARON POSNER: Audiences are wondering how to walk the balance these days between what they want to see and what they care about and how they live and honor their own values as well. And so that balance, which has always been complicated, feels more complicated. So I think there's going to be a fair amount of a realignment going on in the theater community as people figure out where they belong.
BLAIR: Other venues in the D.C. region could stand to gain. But Audrey Fix Schaefer of I.M.P. says what's happening at Washington, D.C.'s, most prominent performing arts center isn't cause for celebration.
FIX SCHAEFER: The Kennedy Center, which is a venue that is absolutely beloved internationally, it's a treasure, and I don't enjoy seeing people feel like they either can't play there or don't want to spend their money there. I understand those feelings, but as an institution, I want it to live on way beyond my lifetime and my kids' lifetime and my grandkids' lifetime because of its place in history. And it's gorgeous.
BLAIR: The Kennedy Center did not respond to requests for comment, but its new leadership has said in interviews they want people from all walks of life to feel welcome. One of the ways it's trying to attract new audiences is to do more faith-based programming. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News, Washington.
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