Arts

Two exhibitions offer juxtaposing artistic views of the Jewish experience in modern culture.

It has been 50 years since punk exploded on the scene. Early punk artists and musicians included Jews who did not find affinity with traditional Jewish life.  OUTSIDERS, OUTCASTS, REBELS + WEIRDOS: PUNK CULTURE 1976–86 delivers an energetic, immersive dive into punk’s disruptive force. Featuring over 500 artifacts—from zines and posters to iconic fashion—this exhibition traces punk scenes across New York, London, Los Angeles, and beyond. It highlights how marginalized voices, including Jewish musicians, helped redefine music, style, and community. Rather than offering a single narrative, it invites visitors to explore punk as a fluid movement that challenged authority and reshaped culture from the margins. Find works by Vivienne Westwood and Malcom McLaren, and contributions to the music of The Ramones, Patti Smith Group, Blondie and more. 

The exhibition moves through New York, London, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. and then explores the relationship between punk and the visual arts.

In sharp contrast, “Robert Russell and Lisa Edelstein: a Palace in Time” is an intimate exhibition centered on Jewish life and the meaning of time. Through still lifes and figurative paintings, the artist couple reflects on ritual, memory, and domestic experience. Russell’s works isolate ritual objects—candles, cups, and symbolic items — while Edelstein’s paintings draw from family photographs in scenes filled with warmth and nostalgia. 

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The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will proudly present the exhibition of Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon beginning May 31. Running through February 28, 2027, the exhibition celebrates the legendary Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson, as a visionary actor and image-maker, examining the many facets of how she created and shaped her public image in the context of the classical Hollywood studio system.

Curated by Associate Curator Sophia Serrano with the support of Curatorial Assistant Simran Bhalla, hundreds of original objects, including posters, portraits, photographs, production documents, letters, and rarely seen personal materials will be on display for the first time and gives unique insight into her agency in becoming a Hollywood icon. Also on display will be Monroe’s onscreen costumes, Love Happy (1949), Something’s Got to Give (1962), Some Like it Hot(1959), and the rarely exhibited famous pink dress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

The Museum will also have an exclusive screening of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on Sunday, May 21, 2026, at 6:30pm at the David Geffen Theater.  The 1953 musical comedy was adapted from Anita Loos’s searingly funny 1925 novella, which also spawned a now-lost silent film in 1928 and a smash Broadway production starring Carol Channing in 1949. Howard Hawks’s film helped Monroe capture the hearts of the American public and brought her enduring fame.

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A landmark collaboration in modern dance takes the stage this spring as “Dancing with Bob: Rauschenberg, Brown & Cunningham Onstage” arrives at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts from May 7 through May 9. The limited run, presented in the Bram Goldsmith Theater, brings together two influential dance institutions to celebrate the centennial of artist Robert Rauschenberg and his profound impact on contemporary dance.

Performed by dancers from Trisha Brown Dance Company and the Merce Cunningham Trust, the production unites dance and visual arts highlighting the interdisciplinary spirit that defined Rauschenberg’s collaborations with choreographers Trisha Brown and Merce Cunningham. Known primarily as a visual artist, Rauschenberg also shaped experimental performance through his work in stage and costume design.

Audiences can expect two major works. Widely praised for its inventive style, Brown’s “Set and Reset,” set to a score by Laurie Anderson, features fluid, hypnotic movement that explores themes of visibility and invisibility. Cunningham’s “Travelogue,” created with composer John Cage, offers a rare revival of a comedic masterpiece rarely seen since 1979. 

Performances are scheduled across four showtimes, including evening and matinee options over the three-day run. 

More than a retrospective, “Dancing with Bob” revisits a pivotal moment in American art–and a defining era in dance history–where boundaries between dance, music, and visual design are erased. The result is a program that feels both historical and immediate, inviting audiences to witness the influence of three creative pioneers.

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Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Primary Trust by Eboni Booth will be presented at the Mark Taper Forum May 20–June 28. Directed by Knud Adams, thisNew York Times Critic’s Pick is a simple and elegantly crafted story of an emotionally damaged man who finds a new job, new friends, and a new sense of worth, illustrating how small acts of kindness can change a person’s life and enrich an entire community.

Kenneth, played by Petey McGee, a 38-year-old bookstore worker in a small upstate New York town, spends his evenings sipping Mai Tais at the local tiki bar with his best friend Bert, (Ugo Chukwu). When he’s suddenly laid off, Kenneth faces challenges he has long avoided — with transformative and heart-warming results. Primary Trust is a touching story of new beginnings, old (and new) friends, and finding the courage to see the world for the first time.

Originally produced in 2023 at the Roundabout Theatre, CTG Brindell & Milton Gottlieb Artistic Director Snehal Desai said, “The Mark Taper Forum has always been known as the home to great American plays, and I’m thrilled that tradition continues this season with Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. I can’t wait to share this gorgeous and moving play with CTG audiences.” 

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