Trump Took Over the Kennedy Center, but Silencing the Arts Will Not Be So Easy Trump Took Over the Kennedy Center, but Silencing the Arts Will Not Be So Easy
Our last best hope for sharing, shaping, and wrangling over independent ideas may turn out to be America’s scrappy and disparate arts spaces—if they can hang on financially.
Mar 18, 2025 / Alisa Solomon
Althea Gibson Let the Racquet Do the Talking Althea Gibson Let the Racquet Do the Talking
A recent biography of the complicated tennis legend underlines the sport’s persistent challenges with race, class, and celebrity.
Aug 13, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Alisa Solomon
The Real Takeover of Columbia Was By Those on the Right The Real Takeover of Columbia Was By Those on the Right
Columbia offers a case-study in how right-wing politicians are using exaggerated claims of anti-semitism to advance a conservative agenda.
May 6, 2024 / Alisa Solomon for The Nation
A Broadway Play’s Clumsy Intervention Into Antisemitism A Broadway Play’s Clumsy Intervention Into Antisemitism
Prayer for the French Republic is among a spate of recent dramas devoted to the precarity of Jewish life at the expense of solidarity.
Mar 14, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Alisa Solomon
A Staggering Story of Palestinian Exile A Staggering Story of Palestinian Exile
Mona Mansour’s The Vagrant Trilogy is the Public Theater’s first full-length, main-stage production to address the aftermath of the Nakba.
Jun 23, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Alisa Solomon
The Story of Capitalism in One Family The Story of Capitalism in One Family
The Lehman Trilogy proposes that the downfall of a financial dynasty is enough to tell the economic and political history of America
Jan 26, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Alisa Solomon
How Covid Transformed US Theater How Covid Transformed US Theater
The art form has been forced to reinvent itself.
Apr 20, 2021 / Feature / Alisa Solomon
Shakespeare’s Contentious Conversation With America Shakespeare’s Contentious Conversation With America
James Shapiro’s recent book looks at why Shakespeare has been a mainstay of the cultural and political conflicts of the country since its founding.
Dec 17, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Alisa Solomon
Larry Kramer’s Righteous Rage Larry Kramer’s Righteous Rage
His jeremiads against the state and those complacent during the AIDS crisis galvanized generations of activists.
Jun 4, 2020 / Alisa Solomon
Tony Kushner on Making Serious Political Theatre in 2019 Tony Kushner on Making Serious Political Theatre in 2019
In a conversation with The Nation, Kushner discusses the first major revival of A Bright Room Called Day, his Reagan-era political drama set in Weimar Germany.
Oct 28, 2019 / Q&A / Alisa Solomon