On Monday, more than 40 fake trophies were stacked at the base of a 10-foot-tall “Iran War Participation Trophy” made for President Trump and placed on the National Mall by the anonymous satirical activist group Secret Handshake.
The large golden trophy is part of a growing trove of protest art pieces erected by the group since Trump was reelected to his second term in office. Previous installations, which have all received the necessary permitting for legal display, include one of Trump and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein holding hands, and a playable retro video game called “Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell.”
The new participation trophy is equipped with a plaque that reads:
“We hereby award President Donald J. Trump this participation trophy for his enthusiastic involvement in the Iran War. While some concern themselves with military strategy, diplomacy, or measurable outcomes, President Trump demonstrated the courage to participate regardless of the final score.
As recipient of this prestigious award, President Trump joins the ranks of children everywhere who receive recognition for simply showing up. We join you in celebrating this remarkable achievement.”
Secret Handshake noted in a letter to The Times that the installation serves as the nation’s first official “Donald Trump Trophy Donation Center, encouraging the public to drop off their own personal trophies, medals, and ribbons at the base of the monument for The President to claim as his own. Together, we hope that if enough trophies are donated he will be perceived as a winner and not feel the need to bomb other countries.”
A representative for Secret Handshake said the dozens of donated awards include certificates, trophies, medals, a wrestling belt and a Kennedy Center sash.
“I’m really thrilled to see people taking an active interest in joining in and bringing their own creativity and having their own voice heard by adding trophies to the base of this instillation,” the representative wrote in an email. “I think it’s exciting and I think when people can take a moment to tangibly express their opinion about this government’s war it helps to create a reminder that we aren’t alone. This isn’t normal. This shouldn’t just be accepted at face value.”
One of the best offerings is titled, “First Place in ‘I Know a Pool guy,’” and reads in part, “Participation trophy for Donald Trump in recognition of his renovation of the nation’s historic reflecting pool to more clearly reflect his efforts to criminalize the touching of a public monument in order to cover up the damage he caused …” The award also recognizes Trump’s “development of American Flag Blue pool liner, which he said was indestructible (unless cut by left wing radical terrorist vandals).”
Secret Handshake has extended an offer to “hand deliver both the participation trophy and all smaller trophies to the Trump Administration for The President’s glowing collection of fake accolades.”
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt taking First Place in time wasted mulching my garden in the heat. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
“Etai & Felipe Pantone: Parallel Practices: Tailored Structures & Kinetic Surfaces” at albertz benda.
Etai & Felipe Pantone
“Parallel Practices: Tailored Structures & Kinetic Surfaces” combines Pantone’s wall-based artworks and a series of collaborative design pieces to challenge ideas of use, intimacy and lived experience, placing each work in the interconnected artistic system.
Opening, 6:30–9:30 p.m. Friday; exhibit continues through Aug. 8. albertz benda, 8260 Marmont Ln. albertzbenda.com
New Swan Shakespeare Festival
The Bard is back in the O.C. at the troupe’s open-air, Elizabethan-style portable theater with “The Merry Wives of Windsor Cove,” a musical adaptation set in a 1950s SoCal beach town, in repertory with “Romeo & Juliet,” the classic tragedy reimagined amid the scarcity of the Dust Bowl.
“Merry Wives,” 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Thursday and various dates through Aug. 30; “Romeo,” 8 p.m. Sunday, Wednesday and various dates through Aug. 29. New Swan Shakespeare Festival, Inner Ring Road, UC Irvine. newswanshakespeare.com/
SATURDAY
“Cyrano” at the Old Globe, San Diego.
(Ben Wiseman)
Cyrano
An irreverent take on “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmond Rostand, adapted by Jason O’Connell and Brenda Withers, directed by Annie Tippe.
Previews, 8 p.m. Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday; opening night, Thursday, 7 p.m.; continues through Aug. 9. The Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park, San Diego. TheOldGlobe.org
F**king Strangers
The world premiere of a dark comedy about love and loneliness by Erik Patterson, directed by Chris Fields.
Previews, 8 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays; through Aug. 24. Echo Theater Company, Atwater Village Theater, 3269 Casitas Ave. echotheatercompany.com
Yoko Ono’s ‘Sky Piece to Jesus Christ’ + ‘Cut Piece’
A six-piece classical music ensemble from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will be gradually wrapped in gauze until the musicians can no longer play their instruments in “Sky Piece,” first presented to the public by Ono at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York in 1965. In “Cut Piece,” performed by artist MPA, the audience will be invited to cut away pieces of the artist’s clothing to take with them while the artist sits silently onstage. The performance was premiered by Ono at Yamaichi Hall in Kyoto in 1964.
6 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., downtown L.A. redcat.org
Marvelous Musicals
Professional and student dancers perform numbers from classic shows to modern favorites.
6:30 p.m. Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Dr. thebarclay.org
Koak, “Portrait of Myself, the Shell,” 2024. Flashe and acrylic on linen; diptych. 74 x 118 inches
(Photo by Chris Grunder. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.)
Summerlove Sensation
A group show featuring Isabelle Albuquerque, Alex Anderson, Mustafa Ali Clayton, Gregor Hildebrandt, Susumu Kamijo, Rae Klein, Koak, Asuka Anastacia Ogawa, Katherina Olschbaur, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Andrew J. Park, Gahee Park, Aya Takano, Honor Titus and Pilar Zeta.
Opening, 6-9 p.m. Saturday; exhibition continues through Aug. 28. Perrotin Los Angeles, 5036 W. Pico Blvd. perrotin.com
A Weekend With Robert Rodriguez
The multi-hyphenate filmmaker will be on hand for anniversary screenings of “From Dusk Til Dawn” (1996) and “Spy Kids”(2001) with the filmmaker in person and performing with his musical groups, Chingon Band and The Rodriguez Family Spy Band.
“From Dusk,” 7 p.m. Saturday. “Spy Kids.” 2 p.m. Sunday. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org
SUNDAY
Tensions, Personified
Readings of four short plays by John Binder are presented as part of the Odyssey’s Thresholds of Invention series.
4 p.m. Odyssey Ensemble Theatre, 2055 South Sepulveda Blvd. odysseytheatre.com
TUESDAY
Ann Noble, left, and Robin McDonald in “Dead Man.”
(Carolina Rodriguez)
Dead Man
Ann Noble writes, directs and performs in this clown noir murder mystery co-produced by Theatre Ghosts. Co-starring Christian Haines, Jeffrey Johnson and Robin McDonald.
8 p.m. Tuesdays, through Aug. 4. Echo Theater Company at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. echotheatercompany.ludus.com
UCBackrooms
A one-night-only immersive, participatory comedy experience turns the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre into an escape room.
Shows begin every 15 mins., 6-7:30 p.m. Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, 5919 Franklin Ave. ucbcomedy.com
THURSDAY
Falsettos
The O.C. theater company The Wayward Artist presents William Finn and James Lapine’s Tony Award-winning, sung-through musical set in 1979 and 1981 about a Jewish man who leaves his wife and son for his male lover, and the ensuing upheaval to their lives.
8 p.m. Thursday, July 24-26 and July 30-Aug. 2. Irvine United Congregational Church, 4915 Alton Pkwy. thewaywardartist.org
Arts anywhere
Jason Huber, from left, Scott G. Jackson and Dana Dewes in “The Price” at Pacific Resident Theatre.
(Ian Cardamone)
The Price
The critically acclaimed production of the Arthur Miller drama at Pacific Resident Theater closes this weekend. “‘The Price,’ directed by Elina de Santos, thrives in the intimacy of Pacific Resident Theatre’s main stage,” wrote Times theater critic Charles McNulty when he reviewed it in April. “There’s not a moment in the play that isn’t deeply inhabited by a cast that understands the value of listening.” But don’t worry if you are unable to make it to the Westside. The final two shows will be available from the League of Live Stream Theater for $35, which includes a 24-hour on-demand replay.
2 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m Sunday. Pacific Resident Theatre, 703 Venice Blvd., Venice; streaming at lolst.org/theprice
— Kevin Crust
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Miller Friedman, Ashley Maimes, Jonathan Blandino and Torianna Turnbow in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum.
(Ian Flanders)
Summer is the ideal time to see theater out of doors (well, maybe not this broiling week, but at other times), and Times theater critic Charles McNulty has compiled this breezy list of “11 enchanting places to see outdoor theater in Southern California.” Spoiler alert: Shakespeare is well-represented, but remember, the Bard’s work was originally staged in an open-air theater.
McNulty also headed to Pasadena Playhouse for the opening of the two-person hip-hop musical “Mexodus,” which tells the little-known story of an Underground Railroad route to Mexico. McNulty was taken with the show, which arrived at the Playhouse after its award-winning off-Broadway run, calling it “hands down the most charming, innovative and warmly embracing new musical I’ve seen in the last year.”
Artist Betye Saar is photographed at her home in Laurel Canyon on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Betye Saar turns 100 on July 30, but the famed artist is still more interested in creating new work than discussing her groundbreaking legacy. Times contributor Tara Anne Dalbow wrote this lovely profile of Saar after a visit to her vibrant home studio in Laurel Canyon. “There are certain people who redefined what was a very narrow definition of American art, and Betye is absolutely one of them,” curator Zoé Whitley told Dalbow.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art this week revealed that artist Vija Celmins and filmmaker Denis Villeneuve will be honored at its upcoming Art + Film Gala, the first to be hosted since the spring opening of LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries.
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Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts — better known as the Soraya — on the campus of California State University Northridge.
(The Soraya)
If you’re interested in buying single tickets to shows that are part of the Soraya’s upcoming season, now is the time. The venue just opened up its access from membership presale to the general public. Sutton Foster, Dance Theatre of Harlem and Audra McDonald are all making their Soraya debuts, as is the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
And you thought making the “Mona Lisa” out of Legos was hard. The company has now paired with Vienna’s Belvedere Museum to release a 4,000-piece Lego set of Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss.” You can buy the set, beginning Aug. 1, for $299.99.