Trump is no JFK

A sign at the protest Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie


Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Thousands turned out Friday night at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to join hands and form a human chain around the JFK building and listen briefly to politicians and others decry Trump's attempt to destroy the city by erecting ugly monuments and slapping his name on the ones which still stand before he tears them down.

"Hands Off the Arts" quickly called for a protest after Trump's plans to destroy the Kennedy Center surfaced in a photo through an airplane window. (May that photographer be nominated for the Pulitzer.)

Thousands gathered and police kept a low profile. The trio of National Guard members usually found at the Foggy Bottom Metro station were nowhere to be seen nor were any Guard members present Friday night at the KC, which, until Trump, was a lively venue for daily and evening shows, 365 days/year, now fallen silent with the destruction of its board by a fake arts enthusiast.



Before the demonstration Sept. 18, 2026, fencing went up around the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

Where there's Trump, these likelinesses will follow. At the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Sept. 18, 2026/By Patricia Leslie

In case readers have not seen Trump's Tarp covering President Kennedy's name /By Patricia Leslie


Tara Hoot (center, in red) at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie


Drag queen Tara Hoot (she was!) was the moderator Friday night when Washington's Gay Men's Chorus sang and U.S. Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) addressed the crowd, saying he'd never known anyone as insecure as Trump who demands that his name go up on public buildings. 

Trump's motto: "It's my way or the highway."

Other speakers Friday night included a union official and D.C.'s Democratic congressional candidate, Robert White. 

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026, a fake Trump came to present his constant message at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

After the talks ended, the crowd took off, moving slowly with the flow to find waiting hands to clasp at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie
The sign says "Take Care Of This House. Be Always on Call. For This House Is The Hope Of Us All." At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

Moving to find hands for the human chain at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

On the way to form a human chain around the building at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie
Les miserables marched to save the union at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie


Spilling off the front plaza at the JFK Center Sept. 18, 2026 on to F Street, NW, "les misérables" joined hands to stop the destruction of the JFK Memorial. The circular buildings comprise the Watergate complex/By Patricia Leslie

Crossing Rock Creek Parkway at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie


On Rock Creek Parkway where motorists honked their horns in support of the people at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

On the Potomac River side of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, motorists sounded their horns in support of the people marching to save the center at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie
Inside the "Reach," all is quiet Sept. 18, 2026 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At an empty hall at the "Reach" at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Sept. 18, 2026/By Patricia Leslie

An empty entrance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where millions enjoyed performances annually before Trump tore out its heart and soul, but when Trump's term ends, a heart transplant will be conducted and the center's soul, restored/By Patricia Leslie

A silent Concert Hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Sept. 18, 2026/By Patricia Leslie
 The D.C. Activist Street Band played on with their wonderful New Orleans flavor at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie


The crowd danced to the tunes of the D.C. Activist Street Band at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

A photographer at the JFK Statue at the Center Friday night, the statue, a gift in celebration of the Center's 50th anniversary, Sept. 1971-2021, from David M. Rubenstein, the Kennedy Center chair 2010-2025 until he was ousted by Trump.

At the statue I met a couple from California in town for a few days who happily joined the throng, seeing signs around town announcing the event, they said. They were astonished to hear of Trump's proposed destruction of the JFK Memorial. And of the golf course. And to build the arch. 

Other people at the statue asked each other:  "Where were you when ...?"



patricialesli@gmail.com

'Blithe Spirits' land in Alexandria

From left are Cameron McBride (Dr. George Bradman), Eric Kennedy (Charles Condomine), Eleanore Tapscott (Madame Arcati), Sarah Cusenza (Ruth Condomine), and Raeanna Nicole Larson (Mrs. Violet Bradman) in Little Theatre of Alexandria's Blithe Spirit/Photo by Matt Liptak

The Little Theatre of Alexandria stages another welcome classic with Sir Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit, a comedy that’s been around longer than most (b.1941) and there's a reason for its continual return to the world's stage: It's a treat and a (sky) lark (?)! A great escape!

Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1819: "Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!"

It was England and World War II when the bombs were dropping a'plenty, but its citizens needed a respite every now and then, like we all do (like now).

To the manor house, they go, some, from the “other side.”

Ruth (Sarah Cusenza) and Charles Condomine (Eric Kennedy) are hosting a dinner party in their elegant home with friends (who are real life husband and wife, Cameron McBride and Raeanna Nicole Larson) and a “medium” (Eleanore Tapscott).

Charles is a famous novelist and plans to milk medium Madame Arcati for any tips she can give him for a story he’s writing.

Things do not go as planned. Madame Arcati is anything but "medium."

Post dinner, she becomes a big scarlet macaw (whose colors Madame matches), sweeping around the room, landing momentarily at one spot or another before flying to her next perch with a wingspan of almost four feet, while the other adults in the room sit in amazement, mouths ajar.

Katie Weigl is Elvira in Little Theatre of Alexandria's Blithe Spirit/Photo by Matt Liptak

Madame conducts a séance and unwittingly summons the ghost of Charles’s first wife, Elvira (Katie Weigl), who died young, after only five years of marriage.

And here she comes, through windswept doors, the sassy Elvira, dressed all in grey, a long flowing gown with cape and face color to match.

Like all ghosts, she flits around the stage, rushing left to right and back again, throwing her hands in the air and seeking to disrupt Charles and Ruth’s marriage.

Charles is the only one who, initially, can see and hear Elvira, her teasing which begins to create havoc in the Condomines’ household.

Ruth can hear Charles speaking to Elvira and thinks his words are meant for her.

Charles to Elvira: "I could drink you under the table."

Ruth: "There's no need to be aggressive, Charles. I'm doing my best to help you."

A few minutes later, Charles tells Elvira to "shut up!"

Ruth: "How dare you speak to me like that!"

(Ms. Cusenza’s Ruth is splendid, talking to a wall or sofa or portrait on the wall, the piano, wherever she thinks Elvira sits or stands, not an easy task to perform with someone who is not there but is there. [Huh? You have to be there.])

Soon, there’s a murder and now there are two ghosts, each in ghostly grey apparel and caked in heavy grey makeup (which made me wince to think about removing it. Maureen Roult designed the hair and makeup).

Just what a man needs: Two wives screaming at him simultaneously after a brief interlude in a menage a trois ahead of chaos. (May I suggest to a producer that he or she exchange principal roles so the wife endures two ghostly husbands?)

The setting is absolutely divine, darling (by Julie Fischer), the parlor of a 1930s luxurious home where the servant, Edith (Caroline J. Berger) runs hither and yon or slows (per Ruth) to serve tea and refreshments to gents and ladies whom costumers Jean Schlichting and Kit Sibley have dressed to the nines: the women in floor length silken gowns with gloves and fancy jewelry, the men in equal getup.

Which ghost “wins”? Come, blithe spirits, see and laugh at them.

The biggest “star” of the night was the superb acting by all the characters, no disappointments by nary a one. Hats off to director Ward Kay, assisted by Liz Isbell.

Other crew members are David Correia, sound; Ken and Patti Crowley, lighting; Maureen Dawson and Jennifer Rhorer, stage managers; Olivia Hinebaugh and Misty White, combat and intimacy directors; Meredith J. Ludwig, producer; Monique Morman, technical director; and Emilie Pade, properties.

I’ll have one of those cucumber sandwiches, if you please and thank you.

What: Blithe Spirit

When: Now thru Sept.19, 2026, Thursday – Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sunday matinees, 2 p.m.

Where: Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe St., Alexandria, VA 22314  

Admission: $30 (fee, included)

Duration: Almost three hours with one intermission

Audience: Mature teens on up

Language: A few “adult” words sprinkled here and there 

Parking: Park for free on the streets or at the nearby Capital One Bank. 

For more information: Box Office, 703-683-0496; boxoffice@thelittletheatre.com

patricialesli@gmail.com