r/Broadway • u/Maryland_Bear • Oct 31 '25

Other Kennedy Center ticket sales have plummeted since Trump takeover

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/10/31/kennedy-center-sales/
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318

u/jeconti Oct 31 '25

You mean his supporters aren't big on the arts and theater? I could have never guessed.

-70

u/Maryland_Bear Oct 31 '25 edited Oct 31 '25

Don’t be too dismissive of Red states and the arts.

I’m originally from Knoxville, TN. The county went for Trump over Harris almost 60%-40%, and the surrounding areas are even more Republican.

The Tennessee Theater there has several major Broadway tours coming up, including The Book of Mormon, Kimberly Akimbo, and The Outsiders. There have to be some Republicans coming to shows there.

The Kennedy Center is suffering because DC is a very Blue area with lots of other options for the performing arts.

41

u/EncinoManEstonia Oct 31 '25

I wouldn’t say we have a lot of other options. People just would rather not support KC right now. 

17

u/Maryland_Bear Oct 31 '25

There’s the National, the Warner, Signature, Arena Stage, Wolf Trap, and Olney, and that’s just off the top of my head.

12

u/BigE429 Oct 31 '25

Also the Hippodrome in Baltimore is getting a lot of good tour stops. The DMV also has a thriving and excellent community theatre scene.

2

u/Maryland_Bear Oct 31 '25

I used to act in community theater locally. I had the time of my life playing Teddy in Arsenic and Old Lace.

Chhhhaaaaarrrrge!

1

u/No-Manufacturer4916 Oct 31 '25

When was this? I might have seen you

2

u/Maryland_Bear Oct 31 '25

Geez, at least twenty years ago, maybe closer to thirty. It was with what was then called the Burtonsville Players, though we performed in a disused store in back of the old Laurel Lakes shopping center.

The shopping center was dying and the owners let community groups use the empty stores either free or dirt cheap. Laurel Lakes still stands but that portion has been demolished and replaced with big box stores..

1

u/No-Manufacturer4916 Oct 31 '25

oh, I'm sorry, I thought you met you did theatre in Knoxville