Performing Arts

Conan O'Brien will receive one of the most coveted awards in comedy on Sunday — but the annual event takes place at a tense time for the Kennedy Center.

The South African actor has been speaking out about racial injustice for decades, often in collaboration with the late playwright Athol Fugard. Kunene and the King is Kani's latest project.

Jasmine Amy Rogers is starring in her first Broadway musical. Eight years ago, NPR talked with her when she was still in high school.

Fugard, who died March 8, was a white South African whose plays explored the consequences of Apartheid. He was later awarded a Tony Award for lifetime achievement. Originally broadcast in 1986.

The celebrated South African playwright was known for Blood Knot, The Road to Mecca and "Master Harold"...and the Boys. He said his job was to make "leaps out of my reality and into other realities."

The hit musical joins a number of other productions and acts that have pulled out of appearances at the Kennedy Center since President Trump took over the storied venue last month.

A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center says the threat targeted Shen Yun, a touring dance troupe that is banned in China, because it is associated with the religious group Falun Gong.

President Trump and his appointees are now solely in charge of the Kennedy Center. Performers protested by dancing.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks to Deborah Rutter, former head of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in her first interview since the board installed President Trump as its new chair.

Alvin Ailey's seminal Revelations is considered the most widely viewed modern dance work in the world. Lost songs from the 1960 premiere are featured in a new work and an album this season.