The top official overseeing theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is stepping down, throwing into question the stability of one of the venue’s most important sources of box office revenue as President Trump seeks to transform the institution.
Jeffrey Finn, whose current titles are senior vice president of artistic programming as well as vice president and executive producer of theater, plays an outsize role at the Kennedy Center. For nearly a decade he has programmed its touring Broadway shows and locally produced musicals, which have often sold strongly.
While theater has been a financial driver for the Kennedy Center, the future health of the theater program has been called into question as some Broadway producers and performers have said they were uncomfortable working there as Mr. Trump seeks to put his ideological stamp on it. During Mr. Finn’s tenure he booked two successful runs of the musical “Hamilton” there, but the show’s producers canceled a planned third run because of Mr. Trump’s actions.
Mr. Finn declined to comment, and Kennedy Center officials did not respond to requests for comment. Mr. Finn’s resignation was confirmed by two people with knowledge of the move who asked not to be identified because they had not been authorized to speak about the matter by the Kennedy Center.
His resignation comes at a time of change for the Kennedy Center. Mr. Trump, early in his second term, purged board members appointed by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. from the previously bipartisan board and had himself appointed board chairman. Last month, Republican lawmakers suggested renaming the Kennedy Center’s Opera House after the first lady, Melania Trump.
And just this week Mr. Trump announced a plan to host the next Kennedy Center Honors ceremony, celebrating artists approved by him. (In: Michael Crawford, Broadway’s first, and Tony-winning, Phantom of the Opera. Out: “wokesters.”)
There have been signs of a shift at the Kennedy Center, where officials have asked the venue’s theater division to begin programing some Broadway titles with nonunion actors, a move that comes as the Trump administration also has taken a number of steps to limit the reach of federal employee unions. The next Kennedy Center theater season will include tours of “Chicago” and “Mrs. Doubtfire,” whose workers are not members of Actors’ Equity Association, a labor union representing actors and stage managers.
Mr. Finn, a longtime Broadway producer, has been at the Kennedy Center since 2016, and brought a number of popular touring shows there including “Les Misérables,” which drew Mr. Trump to a recent performance.
Mr. Finn also created the Broadway Center Stage program, producing three short-run musicals each season.
The first Broadway Center Stage production, in 2018, was a rewritten version of the musical “Chess” that is the basis for a production scheduled to open on Broadway this fall. The program also developed a revival of “Spamalot” that transferred to Broadway and is now scheduled to begin touring later this year, a revival of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” that is leading to an Off Broadway production this fall, and a musical adaptation of the Apple TV+ series “Schmigadoon!” that is hoping to transfer to Broadway.
Mr. Finn has producing credits on 22 Broadway shows over the last two decades. His future plans are unknown.
Michael Paulson is the theater reporter for The Times.
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