Workers react to the media after updating signage outside the Kennedy Center on Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Performing Arts News, interviews, and commentary on theater, the arts, music, and dance.
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Satirist Bill Maher is this year's recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Maher will receive the award at the Kennedy Center on June 28th. The show will stream on Netflix at a later date. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP hide caption
A view of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in February. On Monday, a group of eight architecture and culture groups filed a federal lawsuit against President Trump and the arts complex's board to halt a planned renovation. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Dancer and choreographer Martha Graham poses during rehearsal and photo session at her New York studio in March 1973. Marty Lederhandler/AP hide caption
Richard Grenell attends the world premiere of Amazon MGM Studios' Melania at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on January 29, 2026. ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption
A production still from the North American tour company of The Notebook. The lushly romantic musical might seem like an odd choice to test out "Solo Seats" — a new initiative aimed at attracting solo ticket-buyers. But 60 people signed up for the inaugural event in San Francisco, and the organizers say they are planning more. Roger Mastroianni hide caption
Would you go to a play by yourself? Theaters are hoping so
Ciarán Hinds as Gerry and Lesley Manville as Stella in director Polly Findlay's Midwinter Break. Mark de Blok/Focus Features hide caption
Actress Lesley Manville talks about new marriage drama 'Midwinter Break'
A person walks a dog in front of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 10, 2026. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
On Sunday, President Trump announced he will close the Kennedy Center in July for two years of renovation. Above, Trump is shown in the presidential box during a visit to the Kennedy Center on March 17, 2025. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Trump says he's closing the Kennedy Center for renovations. We have questions
From left: Gaulier students Alayna Perry, Brian Byrne and Joseph Bucci receive feedback on a short skit involving a pie in the face. Rebecca Rosman for NPR hide caption
What a visit to a French clown school reveals about clowning
A recently installed sign at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as photographed on Jan. 10. The center's name change has not been approved by Congress. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A view of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 10, 2026. Artists have cancelled performances at Washington D.C.'s premier performing arts center to protest its renaming to include President Donald Trump. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Natalie Cole and music producer Nolan Williams Jr. with the Let Freedom Ring choir at the Kennedy Center in January 2015. Lisa Helfert/Georgetown University hide caption
A view of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which the current board is calling the Trump Kennedy Center, in Washington, DC, on Dec. 26, 2025. Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Celebrated banjo player Béla Fleck, performing at the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony in Los Angeles in Feb. 2025. Leon Bennett/Getty Images hide caption
The Kennedy Center says it is planning legal action after jazz musician Chuck Redd canceled an annual holiday concert. Redd pulled out after President Trump's name appeared on the building. /Robert Severi hide caption
New York City Ballet's production of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker. Erin Baiano/New York City Ballet hide caption
'The Nutcracker' helps keep the lights on for American ballet companies
President John F. Kennedy, left, looks at a model of what was later named the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC., in 1963. National Archives/Getty Images hide caption
It was called the Kennedy Center, but 3 different presidents shaped it
New signage, The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, is unveiled on the Kennedy Center, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. Jacquelyn Martin/AP hide caption
President Trump to add his own name to the Kennedy Center
Tom Felton, left, who played Harry Potter's nemesis Draco Malfoy in eight films, is now playing him live on stage. Matthew Murphy/Harry Potter and the Cursed Child hide caption
'Harry Potter' fans are flying to Broadway to see the original Draco Malfoy
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater artistic director Alicia Graf Mack (center) poses with members of the company. Andrew Eccles hide caption
Alvin Ailey Dance Theater's new artistic director talks about company's new season
Tom Stoppard's plays include Arcadia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and The Coast of Utopia. He's pictured above in London in 2017. Justin Tallis/WPA Pool/Getty Images hide caption
Misty Copeland was the first Black female principal dancer in the history of American Ballet Theatre. She took a final bow at Lincoln Center on Oct. 22, 2025 Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP hide caption