[Source.](https://thefederalist.com/2023/08/08/to-be-woke-or-not-to-be-that-is-the-question-flailing-regional-theaters-must-answer/) > The trend of fewer plays, canceled seasons, and closed theaters is now so prominent that even The New York Times is noticing. With worried theater folk mulling culprits — inflation, streamed entertainment, the exodus from cities, pandemic relief running out — few are seeing another, perhaps deadlier factor: regional theaters’ excessive focus on race, social justice, and woke ideology. > Displeased audiences may not be as unified (or viral) as those protesting Bud Light, but they are responding — by not buying tickets. Theaters in New York City, Chicago, and even Kansas City watched this happen in real-time, when plays with obvious social justice-flavored topics (racism in boxing or the daily struggles of immigrant life in a sanctuary city, to name a few) underperformed dramatically. But along the scenic West Coast, that flavoring is a heavy saturation, and the number of popular, destination-driven theater companies nearing collapse is jaw-dropping. > From L.A.’s Center Theater Group, which made headlines for layoffs, to the Bay Area’s California Shakespeare Theater (Cal Shakes) and up I-5 to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), regional theaters that put so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) platitudes centerstage are paying a heavy price. In jarring announcements, neither the OSF nor Cal Shakes is promising another season.