Washington National Opera finds new stage after split with Kennedy Center

[0:00] Earlier this month, the board of what is now called the Trump Kennedy Center [0:03] formally approved the president's plan to close the center for two years. [0:08] Meanwhile, the Washington National Opera, which is one of the center's largest arts organizations, [0:14] had already announced that it was leaving. That exit is one of the most consequential [0:19] in a year full of turmoil. Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown reports [0:23] for our Art in Action series, which explores the intersection of art and democracy, [0:29] part of our Canvas coverage. A rehearsal for The Crucible, a 1961 opera by Robert Ward, [0:37] based on Arthur Miller's seminal 1953 play about the Salem witch trials. [0:45] Miller wrote it as a warning about injustice and mass hysteria in the McCarthy-era anti-communist [0:51] trials of his time. Now, says Francesca Zambello, artistic director of the Washington National Opera, [0:57] it has new relevance for ours. [1:00] I think that [1:04] everyone in this country, whatever side of the fence you're on, is certainly wondering what is [1:10] happening with our legal system, what is happening with democracy. Is the Constitution still serving [1:19] us today? Is it serving us right now? And our democracy is on trial now. [1:24] Few in the art world have been quite so caught up in the political maelstrom as the WNO and Zambello, [1:30] whom we met recently at the company's rehearsal studios in Washington. [1:34] Let's focus, everybody. OK? Great. Thank you. [1:37] Places for top of show, please. [1:38] Founded in 1956, now celebrating its 70th season, the opera company has performed at the Kennedy Center since the center's opening in 1971. [1:49] Bringing some of the world's greatest singers to its grand opera house and other stages. [1:57] In 2011, it signed a so-called affiliation agreement to formalize its relationship — making it popular among its audience. [2:02] GOOD TO SEE YOU. [2:03] GOOD TO SEE YOU. [2:03] GOOD TO SEE YOU. [2:03] GOOD TO SEE YOU. [2:03] GOOD TO SEE YOU. [2:03] GOOD TO SEE YOU. [2:04] GOOD TO SEE YOU. [2:04] GOOD TO SEE YOU. [2:04] GOOD TO SEE YOU. [2:04] at one of the center's tentpole organizations, but everything changed with Donald Trump's [2:09] second term. [2:10] MARGARET BRENNAN, Former President of the United States of America, This last year has [2:11] been something I could never have imagined. [2:15] I could not have dreamt this up. [2:17] Last February, there was literally a coup d'etat at the Kennedy Center. [2:21] JEFFREY BROWN, That's how it felt to you? [2:23] MARGARET BRENNAN, It absolutely felt like a coup d'etat. [2:25] JEFFREY BROWN, The longtime leadership respected arts leaders fired. [2:29] New leadership with the president himself as chair in its place. [2:34] A new requirement that arts groups break even or earn a profit on every production, [2:41] contrary to how most opera, dance and theater groups operate, with their need to plan far [2:45] into the future and experiment with their art forms. [2:49] Leading artists canceled performances. [2:52] Audience members stayed away. [2:53] MARGARET BRENNAN, Former President of the United States of America, The building felt [2:55] politicized. [2:57] Everyone who worked in the building, if they didn't march in lockstep with the new management, [3:03] were fired. [3:05] The audiences felt this, I think, incredible burden that everything was about us or them, [3:14] about the two parties, whereas we have always been an apolitical building, an apolitical [3:20] arts institution. [3:21] JEFFREY BROWN, In the crucible, Janae Bridges, one of today's leading mezzo-sopranos, [3:26] sings the role of Elizabeth Proctor, falsely accused of being a witch. [3:35] When Bridges first signed on... [3:36] JEFFREY BROWN. [3:37] I was a bit hesitant, because it's a tricky thing to navigate. [3:46] Not everyone was for my choice of performing at the Kennedy Center. [3:53] I felt that the role in the opera is so relevant that it was almost, in a sense, a protest. [4:02] So I really felt like, OK, as uncomfortable as this might feel, I'm ready for it. [4:08] But then things changed. [4:10] And I have to say that I am relieved. [4:11] JEFFREY BROWN. [4:12] You are relieved? [4:13] JANAE BRIDGES, You are relieved? [4:14] JANAE BRIDGES, Yes, I'm relieved, for sure. [4:15] And I think that it was the right decision. [4:17] JEFFREY BROWN. [4:18] That stunning decision, announced in January by WNO leadership and its board, to leave [4:23] the newly renamed Trump-Kennedy Center and go out on its own. [4:27] The drop in ticket sales and donor support meant the shows could not go on. [4:32] And says Zambello, there was more. [4:34] JANAE BRIDGES, I think that by making the move away from the theater, the theater, the theater, [4:35] the theater, the theater, the theater, the theater, the theater, the theater, the theater, the theater, [4:36] by making the move away from the center, we made a big statement. [4:40] JEFFREY BROWN. [4:41] Which is? [4:42] JANAE BRIDGES, Which is, it should not be about us and them. [4:44] It should be about a good civil society. [4:48] But I was very concerned, knowing what it's like to be homeless, a theater company, an [4:53] opera company, a ballet company. [4:56] You can't be homeless. [4:57] JEFFREY BROWN. [4:58] But you are, in a sense, homeless now. [5:00] JANAE BRIDGES, I think we're now part of a bigger picture. [5:04] Now we're part of a bigger community. [5:05] JEFFREY BROWN. [5:06] JEFFREY BROWN. [5:07] JEFFREY BROWN. [5:08] JEFFREY BROWN. [5:09] JEFFREY BROWN. [5:10] JEFFREY BROWN. [5:11] JEFFREY BROWN. [5:12] JEFFREY BROWN. [5:13] JEFFREY BROWN. 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[5:38] was here in 1957 a production of West Side Story will be put on in two [5:46] different forms fully staged at the Lyric Baltimore and a smaller production [5:51] at Strathmore Music Center outside Washington in Maryland I'm thinking of [5:56] this as a new kind of creative freedom that we are producing in different [6:00] venues that really are appropriate for the works that we will be presenting and [6:04] she says the company will continue its American Opera initiative which fosters [6:09] new operas by contemporary composers for its part the new Trump Kennedy Center [6:14] board recently formally approved an early termination of its agreement with [6:19] the WNO having earlier claimed the parting of ways was its decision due to [6:24] a financially challenging relationship what now can the Washington National [6:29] Opera survive even thrive independently Grand Opera now becomes a grand [6:34] experiment and we met bridges during rehearsals she was optimistic so [6:39] much of the work that we've been doing here at the Washington National Opera [6:39] so many people are excited to support what we're doing I know the theater will [6:44] be filled with an audience that wants to support WNO this great company and art [6:54] and and artists Francesca Zambello sees even higher stakes I think that the arts [7:00] are certainly under attack right now I think that many people don't believe [7:06] that they're necessary and if all of us as artists [7:10] and as people working in arts organizations do not stand up to the injustices that are [7:17] around us then we are not doing our jobs Zambello says the Washington National Opera [7:22] will soon announce its productions and venues for next season for the PBS News Hour I'm Jeffrey [7:28] Brown in Washington DC support journalism you trust support PBS News donate now or even better [7:49] start a monthly contribution today