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Donald Trump ordered a ban on drag shows at the Washington, D.C., venue, but programmers under Ric Grenell managed to find a lot of plays where drag plays a central role.
A ban on drag imposed under President Donald Trump means no trombone-playing queens at the Kennedy Center. But the new season line-up still seems to feature a lot of men in dresses on stage.
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The 2025-’26 season at the Washington, D.C., venue includes runs of Mrs. Doubtfire, Moulin Rouge, Chicago and Monty Python’s Spamalot!, all shows that feature drag, and the first of which boast sa plot centered entirely around actors performing in drag.
That’s a surprising choice, considering Trump, in a Truth Social post in February, promised a stop to drag at the Kennedy Center.
“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture. We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP! Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP. The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation. For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”
The new leader for the Kennedy Center turned out to be Ric Grenell, a gay man who held multiple foreign policy positions in Trump’s first and current terms. Grenell now serves as president of the Kennedy Center and recently called for an investigation of the fiscal management of the institution, as reported by The New York Times.
Meanwhile, the theater has faced trouble with acts cancelling because of a change in rules that previously required only unionized shows. Both Mrs. Doubtfire and Chicago have nonunionized national tours and are thus less expensive to feature, according to The Daily Beast,
But of course, Mrs. Doubtfire follows the story of a father who dresses up as a woman nanny to spend more time with his children after a divorce. Chicago, meanwhile, has a character, Mary Sunshine, who is revealed to be male in a memorable scene of the show, and the part of Mama Morton has also been portrayed by drag queens, including Jinkx Monsoon.
Spamalot! also includes prominent bits with men dressed in women’s roles, and Moulin Rouge’s characters include a drag queen named Baby Doll.
Trump reportedly announced a ban on drag shows after a “Dragtastic” party for families with queer and questioning children. Drag queen Tara Hoot told Washington City Paper that the show was tame, comparing her drag character to “Mr. Rogers in a dress.”
Now it appears children will be protected from such content and instead attend shows with spouse-killing prison inmates and duplicitous divorced men instead.
