Hidden Agendas Laid Bare in a Debate | Haggling Over Grant Money in ‘The Most Deserving’
Charles IsherwoodApril 9, 2014: A fight over an arts funding grant causes a kerfuffle the size of Kansas in The Most Deserving, a frisky but inconsequential new comedy by Catherine Trieschmann that opened at City Center on Tuesday night under the auspices of the Women’s Project Theater. Kansas is actually where the big set-to takes place, when a meeting of a county arts council turns testy, resulting in a series of events that leaves just about everyone’s feathers permanently ruffled. The council’s head, Jolene Atkinson, played by the distinctive comic actress Veanne Cox, is presiding over the meeting when the matter of a $20,000 arts grant arises. The recipient must be a local resident, and as Jolene reminds her fellow board members, “must demonstrate both artistic excellence and financial need, and should preferably be an underrepresented American voice.”
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