Director Papp Rejects NEA Grant

Theatrical impresario Joseph Papp has rejected a $50,000 National Endowment of the Arts grant, saying he will not accept the restrictions on obscenity the agency has imposed since October, a published report said today.

Papp, director of the New York Shakespeare Festival, had been offered the federal grant to help underwrite the Festival Latino, a monthlong program of Latin American theater, music and films set for August, The New York Times reported in today’s editions.

Papp’s decision to turn down the grant comes at a time of financial struggle for his ventures.

“It’s a difficult time for us,” he told the newspaper. “We’re losing ‘A Chorus Line’ tomorrow, and we have a deficit of over $2.5 million right now. This is the worst time for me to do this. It’s a matter of censorship. How could I produce plays by Vaclav Havel and do that?”