Producers of Hamilton, the massively fashionable Lin-Manuel Miranda musical, have canceled a deliberate 2026 engagement on the Kennedy Middle in Washington, D.C., decrying the “current purge by the Trump Administration” of the venue’s skilled employees and center-produced occasions.
“Given these current actions, our present merely can not, in good conscience, take part and be part of this new tradition that’s being imposed on the Kennedy Middle,” stated producer Jeffrey Vendor in a press release. “Due to this fact, we have now cancelled the third engagement of Hamilton on the Kennedy Middle, initially scheduled for March 3-April 26, 2026.”
The engagement would have been the third run of Hamilton on the Kennedy Middle.
“Hamilton was proudly carried out on the Kennedy Middle in 2018 through the first Trump administration,” Vendor stated. “We aren’t appearing towards his administration, however towards the partisan insurance policies of the Kennedy Middle because of his current takeover.”
The shocking transfer comes simply weeks after the Kennedy Middle introduced that its deliberate tour of its youngsters’s musical Finn had been canceled, in addition to an upcoming efficiency by the Homosexual Males’s Refrain of Washington D.C.
“Political disagreement and debate are important expressions of democracy,” Vendor stated. “These fundamental ideas of freedom are on the very coronary heart of Hamilton. Nonetheless, some establishments are sacred and needs to be protected against politics. The Kennedy Middle is one such establishment.”
See Vendor’s whole assertion under.
Based on Vendor, the actions taken by the Kennedy Middle in current weeks have “seen a long time of Kennedy Middle neutrality be destroyed.”
“The current purge by the Trump Administration of each skilled employees and performing arts occasions at or initially produced by the Kennedy Middle flies within the face of every thing this nationwide cultural heart represents,” he stated. “This spirit of nonpartisanship ended on February 7, 2025, with the firing of Kennedy Middle President Deborah Rutter, the Chairman of the Board David Rubenstein, quite a few different Kennedy Middle board members, and the cancellation of essential programming. These actions convey a brand new spirit of partisanship to the nationwide treasure that’s the Kennedy Middle.”
The cancellation, Vendor famous, “can be a enterprise choice.”
“Hamilton is a big and international manufacturing,” Vendor acknowledged, “and it could merely be financially and personally devastating to the a whole bunch of workers of Hamilton if the brand new management of the Kennedy Middle all of a sudden cancelled or re-negotiated our engagement. The actions of the brand new Chairman of the Board in current weeks reveal that contracts and former agreements merely can’t be trusted. That is unhappy, as a result of fundamental integrity and the rule of regulation have lengthy been nice American ideas that assist function a basis for our Nation.”
Right here is Vendor’s assertion in its entirety:
“Political disagreement and debate are important expressions of democracy. These fundamental ideas of freedom are on the very coronary heart of Hamilton. Nonetheless, some establishments are sacred and needs to be protected against politics. The Kennedy Middle is one such establishment.
“The Kennedy Middle was based over 50 years in the past with a honest bipartisan spirit. Certainly, it was based through the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower, named after President John F. Kennedy, and opened in 1971 below the administration of Richard M. Nixon. The Kennedy Middle was meant to be for all Individuals, a spot the place we might all come collectively in celebration of the humanities. Politics have by no means affected the presentation of hundreds of exhibits and the show of extraordinary visible arts.
“Nonetheless, in current weeks we have now sadly seen a long time of Kennedy Middle neutrality be destroyed. The current purge by the Trump Administration of each skilled employees and performing arts occasions at or initially produced by the Kennedy Middle flies within the face of every thing this nationwide cultural heart represents. This spirit of nonpartisanship ended on February 7, 2025, with the firing of Kennedy Middle President Deborah Rutter, the Chairman of the Board David Rubenstein, quite a few different Kennedy Middle board members, and the cancellation of essential programming. These actions convey a brand new spirit of partisanship to the nationwide treasure that’s the Kennedy Middle.
“Given these current actions, our present merely can not, in good conscience, take part and be part of this new tradition that’s being imposed on the Kennedy Middle. Due to this fact, we have now cancelled the third engagement of Hamilton on the Kennedy Middle, initially scheduled for March 3-April 26, 2026.
“Hamilton was proudly carried out on the Kennedy Middle in 2018 through the first Trump administration. We aren’t appearing towards his administration, however towards the partisan insurance policies of the Kennedy Middle because of his current takeover.
“Our cancellation can be a enterprise choice. Hamilton is a big and international manufacturing, and it could merely be financially and personally devastating to the a whole bunch of workers of Hamilton if the brand new management of the Kennedy Middle all of a sudden cancelled or re-negotiated our engagement. The actions of the brand new Chairman of the Board in current weeks reveal that contracts and former agreements merely can’t be trusted. That is unhappy, as a result of fundamental integrity and the rule of regulation have lengthy been nice American ideas that assist function a basis for our Nation.
“I’ve personally cherished the Kennedy Middle since touring it as a seventh grader in 1977 together with the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. I watched the primary Kennedy Middle Honors in 1978. Whatever the political local weather, I’ve all the time felt at dwelling at The Kennedy Middle, and I’m grateful for each one who has spent the final 50 years making it a beacon of nonpartisanship and celebration. However we can not presently help an establishment that has been pressured by exterior forces to betray its mission as a nationwide cultural heart that fosters the free expression of artwork in The US of America.”
