The strapped Washington National Opera is mulling a merger with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, according to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

Citing a source familiar with the matter, the Journal says the Kennedy Center would assume the opera’s assets and liabilities and exercise authority on artistic and budget matters. The opera’s president, Kenneth R. Feinberg, told the Post the merger talk is “mere speculation” but added that “all options are on the table.”

The opera, which is headed by the star tenor Placido Domingo and holds its performances at the Kennedy Center, has debts totaling $11-million and has cut its upcoming season to five productions.

In other arts news, a Chinese performance group in the United States is claiming pressure from China’s government is behind its failure to secure Los Angeles officials’ permission to build a downtown venue and training center, writes the Los Angeles Times.

The group, Shen Yun, is linked to the Falun Gong religious movement, which is banned in China, and its international performances have attracted Chinese diplomatic protests.

Jan Perry, a Los Angeles councilwoman whose district includes the parcel, called the allegation of pressure from Beijing “a fantasy.” The site is now designated for an art museum that philanthropist Eli Broad intends to build.

Also, New York’s Cherry Lane Theater will suspend productions on its main stage for at least a year as it wrestles with a $167,000 deficit, reports The New York Times. The 86-year-old Greenwich Village group has suffered a 40-percent drop in revenue.

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