John Russell

In the tense, uncertain weeks since the election, chances are you’ve heard at least one well-meaning progressive say something along the lines of, “Well, at least the art is going to be amazing in the next few years.” It’s a sentiment about which producers Adam Salberg and Jonathan Cottle are somewhat ambivalent, despite the fact that their latest project “Sanctuary,” a pop-up venue for LGBT and other minority artists, is all about the experimental theater community’s reaction to the impending Trump administration. “I think it’s people trying to find comfort in a shitty situation, looking for hope,” says Cottle. But he takes issue with the implicit assumption that marginalized communities will even be in a position to create art and have it seen. “It was extremely difficult with eight years of a Democratic President. I can only imagine how much more difficult it’s going to be with someone who has done nothing but say he wants to cut public funding for things like art in favor of building a wall.”   Adam Salberg and Jonathan CottleHunter Canning     With "Sanctuary," Cottle and Salberg aim to create a space where a diverse array of artists from the communities most directly attacked by the Trump campaign can come together and present works that give voice to their concerns and anxieties as the administration takes power. Part of Here’s Sublet Series, the four week festival of theater and performance opens on Inauguration Day, January 20, with its own Inaugural Ball and conti