Opinion Today: American theater is imploding before our eyes

The federal government bailed out banks and the auto industry. Now it must save theater. [View in browser](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP4QoAWh0dHBzOi8vbWVzc2FnaW5nLWN1c3RvbS1uZXdzbGV0dGVycy5ueXRpbWVzLmNvbS90ZW1wbGF0ZS9vYWt2Mj9jYW1wYWlnbl9pZD0zOSZlbWM9ZWRpdF90eV8yMDIzMDcyMiZpbnN0YW5jZV9pZD05ODEzMyZubD1vcGluaW9uLXRvZGF5JnByb2R1Y3RDb2RlPVRZJnJlZ2lfaWQ9Nzc2NzQ5NTImc2VnbWVudF9pZD0xMzk5OTkmdGU9MSZ1cmk9bnl0JTNBJTJGJTJGbmV3c2xldHRlciUyRjk2ZDJiMTUyLWI1OTEtNTMxNC1iNTk3LTI5MDE0NDgzMGI3MSZ1c2VyX2lkPWFhNDkxZWY3ZjFkOTY0ZTQ5NzlmYjc4NGU3NGUwMWQ3VwNueXRCCmS2bMW7ZNgb2BNSG3RyaXN0cmFtYmFsZHdpbjkwQGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAAw~~)|[nytimes.com](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP0SwaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW1lcy5jb20vP2NhbXBhaWduX2lkPTM5JmVtYz1lZGl0X3R5XzIwMjMwNzIyJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTk4MTMzJm5sPW9waW5pb24tdG9kYXkmcmVnaV9pZD03NzY3NDk1MiZzZWdtZW50X2lkPTEzOTk5OSZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9YWE0OTFlZjdmMWQ5NjRlNDk3OWZiNzg0ZTc0ZTAxZDdXA255dEIKZLZsxbtk2BvYE1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luOTBAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAD)[Continue reading the main story](#a11y-skip-ad-marquee) [Marquee Ad](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP0SYaHR0cHM6Ly9saXZlaW50ZW50Lm5ld3lvcmt0aW1lc2luZm8uY29tL2NsaWNrP3M9MTYyMTM5JmxpPVRZJm09YWE0OTFlZjdmMWQ5NjRlNDk3OWZiNzg0ZTc0ZTAxZDcmcD1UWV8yMDIzMDcyMiZ0ZT0xJm5sPW9waW5pb24tdG9kYXkmZW1jPWVkaXRfdHlfMjAyMzA3MjJXA255dEIKZLZsxbtk2BvYE1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luOTBAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAD) [Read more from Opinion](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP0S_aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW1lcy5jb20vc2VjdGlvbi9vcGluaW9uP2NhbXBhaWduX2lkPTM5JmVtYz1lZGl0X3R5XzIwMjMwNzIyJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTk4MTMzJm5sPW9waW5pb24tdG9kYXkmcmVnaV9pZD03NzY3NDk1MiZzZWdtZW50X2lkPTEzOTk5OSZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9YWE0OTFlZjdmMWQ5NjRlNDk3OWZiNzg0ZTc0ZTAxZDdXA255dEIKZLZsxbtk2BvYE1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luOTBAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAD) July 22, 2023 Government aid is both necessary and essential, as is our nation’s renewed recognition that the arts are vital both to the survival of democracy and to the enlargement of the human spirit. Harry Weber/Gallery Stock By Isaac Butler Like many of my friends who work in or care about the American theater, I’ve become a collector of sorts. Instead of rare first editions or Grateful Dead bootlegs, what we’ve been collecting are stories of the doom slowly spreading across the American theatrical landscape like paint spilling out of a bucket. Some of these stories we find in the news, others in whispered conversations, rumors and off-the-record confessions. A portion of this collection forms the opening of [my guest essay](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP0TgaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAyMy8wNy8xOS9vcGluaW9uL3RoZWF0ZXItY29sbGFwc2UtYmFpbG91dC5odG1sP2NhbXBhaWduX2lkPTM5JmVtYz1lZGl0X3R5XzIwMjMwNzIyJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTk4MTMzJm5sPW9waW5pb24tdG9kYXkmcmVnaV9pZD03NzY3NDk1MiZzZWdtZW50X2lkPTEzOTk5OSZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9YWE0OTFlZjdmMWQ5NjRlNDk3OWZiNzg0ZTc0ZTAxZDdXA255dEIKZLZsxbtk2BvYE1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luOTBAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAD) for Opinion this week. When The Times asked me to write about the crisis facing the American theater, I felt I had to go further than documenting and lamenting the present state of affairs. Simply reciting a litany of problems can be cathartic, but it can also lead to paralysis and despair. Perhaps because I am both a cultural historian and an avid science fiction reader, I find that when I am stuck in a seemingly untenable present the best solution is to look both backward and forward. Examining the past reveals new angles on the present, and imagining a better future helps us to envision how to get there. In looking backward to the history of postwar America, I found that the golden age of 20th-century American art would not have been possible without intense support from the federal government, which came through the Works Progress Administration, the National Endowment for the Arts, the State Department and even the C.I.A. In looking to the future, I began to see possibility, the possibility of art that is vital to people’s everyday lives, flourishing in all corners of our society, providing a living wage for those who make it. We are far from that future; to get there, we must survive the present. Theaters have been attempting to do so with massive layoffs, renting out their stages instead of producing original work on them and holding emergency fund-raising campaign after emergency fund-raising campaign. As my essay explains, this is clearly not enough; it is time for the federal government to step in and save the theater system it helped create. READ ISAAC’S FULL ESSAY HERE [GUEST ESSAY American Theater Is Imploding Before Our Eyes Government bailouts saved the automotive and banking industries. American theater is in similar trouble and deserves to be saved. By Isaac Butler](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP0TgaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAyMy8wNy8xOS9vcGluaW9uL3RoZWF0ZXItY29sbGFwc2UtYmFpbG91dC5odG1sP2NhbXBhaWduX2lkPTM5JmVtYz1lZGl0X3R5XzIwMjMwNzIyJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTk4MTMzJm5sPW9waW5pb24tdG9kYXkmcmVnaV9pZD03NzY3NDk1MiZzZWdtZW50X2lkPTEzOTk5OSZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9YWE0OTFlZjdmMWQ5NjRlNDk3OWZiNzg0ZTc0ZTAxZDdXA255dEIKZLZsxbtk2BvYE1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luOTBAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAD) [Article Image](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP0TgaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAyMy8wNy8xOS9vcGluaW9uL3RoZWF0ZXItY29sbGFwc2UtYmFpbG91dC5odG1sP2NhbXBhaWduX2lkPTM5JmVtYz1lZGl0X3R5XzIwMjMwNzIyJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTk4MTMzJm5sPW9waW5pb24tdG9kYXkmcmVnaV9pZD03NzY3NDk1MiZzZWdtZW50X2lkPTEzOTk5OSZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9YWE0OTFlZjdmMWQ5NjRlNDk3OWZiNzg0ZTc0ZTAxZDdXA255dEIKZLZsxbtk2BvYE1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luOTBAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAD) [Continue reading the main story](#a11y-skip-universal-0) ADVERTISEMENT [Ad](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP0SXaHR0cHM6Ly9saXZlaW50ZW50Lm5ld3lvcmt0aW1lc2luZm8uY29tL2NsaWNrP3M9NTk3ODUmbGk9VFkmbT1hYTQ5MWVmN2YxZDk2NGU0OTc5ZmI3ODRlNzRlMDFkNyZwPVRZXzIwMjMwNzIyJnRlPTEmbmw9b3Bpbmlvbi10b2RheSZlbWM9ZWRpdF90eV8yMDIzMDcyMlcDbnl0QgpktmzFu2TYG9gTUht0cmlzdHJhbWJhbGR3aW45MEBnbWFpbC5jb21YBAAAAAM~) THE WEEK IN BIG IDEAS [[Article Image] Illustration by Akshita Chandra/The New York Times; Images by The New York Public Library, British Library/Unsplash; and PictureNet/Getty Images](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP0TsaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAyMy8wNy8xNi9vcGluaW9uL3JlZHVjZS1tYXRlcm5hbC1tb3J0YWxpdHktc3RyYXRlZ2llcy5odG1sP2NhbXBhaWduX2lkPTM5JmVtYz1lZGl0X3R5XzIwMjMwNzIyJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTk4MTMzJm5sPW9waW5pb24tdG9kYXkmcmVnaV9pZD03NzY3NDk1MiZzZWdtZW50X2lkPTEzOTk5OSZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9YWE0OTFlZjdmMWQ5NjRlNDk3OWZiNzg0ZTc0ZTAxZDdXA255dEIKZLZsxbtk2BvYE1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luOTBAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAD) [GUEST ESSAY More Mothers Are Dying. It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way. No mother should ever go into childbirth fearful that the cost of bringing a life into the world will be the loss of her own. By Veronica Gillispie-Bell](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP0TsaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAyMy8wNy8xNi9vcGluaW9uL3JlZHVjZS1tYXRlcm5hbC1tb3J0YWxpdHktc3RyYXRlZ2llcy5odG1sP2NhbXBhaWduX2lkPTM5JmVtYz1lZGl0X3R5XzIwMjMwNzIyJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTk4MTMzJm5sPW9waW5pb24tdG9kYXkmcmVnaV9pZD03NzY3NDk1MiZzZWdtZW50X2lkPTEzOTk5OSZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9YWE0OTFlZjdmMWQ5NjRlNDk3OWZiNzg0ZTc0ZTAxZDdXA255dEIKZLZsxbtk2BvYE1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luOTBAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAD) [[Article Image] Henri Campeã](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP0TnaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAyMy8wNy8xNy9vcGluaW9uL3B1YmxpYy1saWJyYXJpZXMtYm9vay1iYW5zLWxnYnQuaHRtbD9jYW1wYWlnbl9pZD0zOSZlbWM9ZWRpdF90eV8yMDIzMDcyMiZpbnN0YW5jZV9pZD05ODEzMyZubD1vcGluaW9uLXRvZGF5JnJlZ2lfaWQ9Nzc2NzQ5NTImc2VnbWVudF9pZD0xMzk5OTkmdGU9MSZ1c2VyX2lkPWFhNDkxZWY3ZjFkOTY0ZTQ5NzlmYjc4NGU3NGUwMWQ3VwNueXRCCmS2bMW7ZNgb2BNSG3RyaXN0cmFtYmFsZHdpbjkwQGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAAw~~) [GUEST ESSAY I Am Being Pushed Out of One of the Last Public Squares, the Library A haven that should welcome all is too often becoming a battleground. By Emily St. James](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP0TnaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAyMy8wNy8xNy9vcGluaW9uL3B1YmxpYy1saWJyYXJpZXMtYm9vay1iYW5zLWxnYnQuaHRtbD9jYW1wYWlnbl9pZD0zOSZlbWM9ZWRpdF90eV8yMDIzMDcyMiZpbnN0YW5jZV9pZD05ODEzMyZubD1vcGluaW9uLXRvZGF5JnJlZ2lfaWQ9Nzc2NzQ5NTImc2VnbWVudF9pZD0xMzk5OTkmdGU9MSZ1c2VyX2lkPWFhNDkxZWY3ZjFkOTY0ZTQ5NzlmYjc4NGU3NGUwMWQ3VwNueXRCCmS2bMW7ZNgb2BNSG3RyaXN0cmFtYmFsZHdpbjkwQGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAAw~~) [[Article Image] Damon Winter/The New York Times](~/AAAAAQA~/RgRmnkpsP0TraHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAyMy8wNy8xNy9vcGluaW9uL3dlYXRoZXItY2xpbWF0ZS1wb2xpdGljcy1yZXB1YmxpY2FuLmh0bWw_Y2FtcGFpZ25faWQ9MzkmZW1jPWVkaXRfdHlfMjAyMzA3MjImaW5zdGFuY2VfaWQ9OTgxMzMmbmw9b3Bpbmlvbi10b2RheSZyZWdpX2lkPTc3Njc0OTUyJnNlZ21lbnRfaWQ9MTM5OTk5JnRlPTEmdXNlcl9pZD1hYTQ5MWVmN2YxZDk2NGU0OTc5ZmI3ODRlNzRlMDFkN1cDbnl0QgpktmzFu2TYG9gTUht0cmlzdHJhbWJhbGR3aW45MEBnbWFpbC5jb21YBAAAAAM~) [PAUL KRUGMAN Why We Should Politicize the Weather Climate-related disasters are very much a partisan issue. 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