Chris Grace Looks to Talk Back to 'Boss' Donald Trump at July Kennedy Center Gig

The Kennedy Center has been getting much attention of late since Donald Trump purged its appointees affiliated with previous administrations and has promised no drag queens will be performing in the complex.

But what about a performance piece rooted in drag that remains on the schedule for July?

That is "Chris Grace as Scarlett Johansson," the LA-based actor's solo show that critiques the star's notorious casting as a character of Japanese ancestry in Rupert Sanders' big-screen adaptation of the popular anime "Ghost in the Shell" in 2017.

Grace says the idea of the show "came from years of built-up resentment and frustration on my part as an actor trying to make it in show business and noting that the power dynamics that our society is built on bleed into the arts as well," Grace tells EDGE.

In other words, why does Johansson, who he admires, get a wealth of opportunity with her career choices while he does not?

The 50-year-old Grace has been a TV and film actor for a decade-and-a-half, with his credits ranging from everything from "PEN15" and "Broad City" to a recurring role on "Superstore."

He premiered "Chris Grace as Scarlett Johansson" at the Edinburgh Festival in 2023. He also filmed the show for streaming platform Dropout in 2024. It is booked at the Kennedy Center for a three-day run, July 11 – 13. And it may not be purged since Grace's piece is more stand-up than straight-up drag, that is he moves between himself and ScarJo throughout with the use of strategic props and wigs in a manner that suggests performance art. In other words, you won't find his drag on "RuPaul's Drag Race."

Still, the title alone is incendiary enough and the content – a commentary on race and privilege – is likely to provoke the Kennedy Center content police and be enough to get him canceled from this woke-free zone. His show faces a somewhat uncertain future now that Trump has taken over The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., purging its board of directors of Biden appointees, stocking it with loyalists and effectively appointing himself chairman. Rationalizing the move with the claim that the venue had mounted "drag shows specifically targeting our youth," and declaring that "We don't need woke at the Kennedy Center," the president also trumpeted the fact that he has never attended a performance at the arts complex.

"The fallout is unprecedented," the Associated Press reported. "Kennedy Center consultants such as musician Ben Folds and singer Renée Fleming have resigned and actor Issa Rae and author Louise Penny have canceled appearances."

Media reports openly wondered what sort of fare The Kennedy Center would offer under Trump's stewardship, and the nation found out soon enough: The so-called "J6 Prison Choir" is slated to take the stage there. But more disheartening was news of what would not be welcome at the center: a production of the children's musical "Finn" was axed, as was a performance of "A Peacock Among Pigeons", an allegory for the experiences of queer youth based on a children's book that would have been a collaboration between the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C. and the National Symphony Orchestra. In addition, the acclaimed Broadway drama "Eureka Day," had its engagement canceled. The play concerned an outbreak of mumps, a sensitive topic for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new DHH head.

Will "Chris Grace as Scarlett Johansson" face the same fate?

Grace spoke with EDGE about the show, DEI in American culture, and his previous and very positive experiences working at the Kennedy Center.

EDGE: As an out gay person, and as an artist, are concerned with what's happening in the U.S.? where we are, how we got here, and what we can do about it.

Chris Grace: Yeah, I'm specifically concerned because I'm supposed to do "Scarlett Johansson" at The Kennedy Center in July, and there's a chance that my show gets canceled. I am concerned about everything that's happening, particularly constitutionally, but I'm also emboldened and energized because this is what art is supposed to be for. There are people out there that are feeling a lot of overwhelming anger and despair, and I think these are the moments that artists need to lead us through the darkness.

EDGE: How do you see art as something that can help us get through this time?

Chris Grace: We have a real challenge over the next couple years to tell the truth in our art. I think there is a new desire for sincerity in culture, and honesty, and I think that includes people on all sides of the political spectrum. I think art is still a place where we need to explore those cases where we don't agree.

EDGE: Has the thought occurred to you to, as some have done, step back and say, "I am not participating in this institution if this is where it's headed"?

Chris Grace: Yeah, it occurred to me, because I'm a big fan of Issa Rae, who recently canceled a show. But, pragmatically, I'm not quite in the financial situation to just drop a gig like that.

I also think it's an opportunity, if I can actually get on that stage. My show is not neutral about things like DEI, which is a hot-button topic right now. I've never thought about this way, but when I'm doing that show there in July, Donald Trump is going to be my boss. I've always been somebody that talks back to the boss; every job I've ever had, I've been the one that will say the thing to the management on behalf of other people, and then I'm the one that gets in trouble. So why should this be any different?

EDGE: Speaking of DEI, have you encountered situations where people said to you, or gave you the vibe, that you must be a diversity hire because of your ancestry, or sexuality, or some other reason?

Chris Grace: Not for sexuality. I don't think gay people are a minority in theater.

[Laughter]

Chris Grace: Very, very, very rarely I've gotten that from other comics. One time a comic said that, since he had to follow me, the audience after my set just hated white men and that's why they didn't like him. I just thought, "I don't think that's why they didn't like your set. I think it was your jokes."

I think you could reasonably critique DEI efforts in corporate America and examine whether or not they're genuinely successful. I know that often that translates to business units inside a company that have a budget where they have to bring in a speaker to talk about diversity, and I don't know if that really moves the needle inside of a company. I say that as person who has been brought in to do those speeches, and I love doing them, and please hire me to do more!

But let's say we get rid of all the DEI. That would not be great, but at least two years from now, if a white man doesn't get a job, he cannot blame it on DEI. He's going to have to face the fact that maybe he was not the preferred candidate. I think that boogeymen like "woke" and "affirmative action" have been exploited by a bunch of people who don't really want to tell a white guy why he didn't get a job.

EDGE: Are you perhaps thinking about how to turn the challenges of this moment into something comedic? Laughter is a valuable medicine, and we're going to need it.

Chris Grace: I am actually working on a project that I started at the Kennedy Center, which is a new work in progress show for the Edinburgh Festival this year. My plan was to create a solo show that was purely comedic. My husband said, "Maybe you can make a show that people just go to laugh, and they don't have to think about the world." And I said, "Well, I could. But am I really the kind of person that does silly things without thinking about making the world better?" And he was like, "No, you're not like that." Probably what the show will be about is, "Can I resist the urge to talk about the world?"

EDGE: If your show were to get canceled at The Kennedy Center, do you think it might be because you wearing that red wig would be classified as drag?

Chris Grace: It's possible. I think the promo image of it is me wearing that wig. If you got wind of the actual content in the show, I don't think that would help my case. There's a chunk of the show near the end that I tend to rewrite every time I do the show, and it's often updated by things that have happened recently. I did this show in January in Madison, Wisconsin, and I had a little chunk about how I thought I wouldn't be doing this show much longer, and now it feels like I should be doing the show for the next four years.

EDGE: As an artist, someone who's been so involved in show business for so long, what is your feeling about the Kennedy Center as a cultural institution, a reflection of America's commitment to the arts, and even a mirror for our attitudes toward diversity?

Chris Grace: I think it's wonderful. I've worked with a division at Kennedy Center called Social Impact, where they amplify and give resources to artists from underrepresented communities, including a lot of work with local Washington, DC poets and visual artists and jazz bands. I got to work there at this incubator project through Social Impact earlier this year, and not only was it an incredible resource for having some space to create a project, but also it was an opportunity to [interact] with other artists and live in a space where you were validated by the fact that there's an imprimatur from the Kennedy Center that, if you're at your Thanksgiving with your family and you say, "Oh yeah, I'm going to the Kennedy Center in January," it's a thing they know about.

EDGE: It really is something of a big deal to play at The Kennedy Center.

Chris Grace: I don't know how many institutions in the U.S. that are arts-focused have that same ability to raise somebody up. Years ago, a show that I directed went and toured at the Sydney Opera House, and I felt a similar thing when I would tell people that I was going to Sydney for a month to work in the Sydney Opera House. I think some of these big institutions recognize that that is a way that they can make an impact, by [lending] their name [to] things.

You know, since I'm doing "Scarlett" at the Kennedy Center, it's very clearly made it easier for me to get the foot in the door with other regional theaters to talk about bringing my show there. Everybody I've met there has been very committed to putting the arts first and having the arts live, not just nationally, but also in their local community. I think of it is a gem in DC, and, having met a bunch of people there, I'm very concerned for all of them right now.

Find out more about Chris Grace at his website.