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The Guilt Trip - Full Cast & Crew

50 Metascore
1 hr 36 mins
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A traveling salesman takes his mother on a road trip in order to reunite her with a former fling in this unforgettable comedy.

Screenwriter

Assoc. producer, co-producer, executive producer, music editor, cinematographer, production company, assistant editor, art director, set decorator, costumes supervisor, sound/sound designer, sound mixer, supervising sound editor, sound effects, special effects coordinator, special effects, production designer, first assistant director, post production supervisor, production coordinator, production supervisor, second assistant director, camera operator, choreographer, hair styles, location manager, properties master, re-recording mixer, script supervisor, still photographer, key make-up, department head hair.

Cast of The Guilt Trip

Seth Rogen portrays the character of Andy Brewster.

Barbra Streisand brings Joyce Brewster to life in the movie.

Yvonne Strahovski takes on the role of Jessica.

Colin Hanks portrays the character of Rob.

Brett Cullen plays the role of Ben.

Adam Scott takes on the character of Andrew Margolis Jr.

Ari Graynor portrays the character of Joyce Margolis.

Kathy Najimy brings the character of Gayle to life.

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The Guilt Trip
Cast & Crew

Cast & crew

The full cast of The Guilt Trip

Here you will find an overview of the cast of the movie The Guilt Trip from the year 2012, including all the actors, actresses and the director. When you click on the name of an actor, actress or director from the movie The Guilt Trip-cast you can watch more movies and/or series by him or her. Click here for more infomation about the movie.

We have made an overview that includes: actors , directors , the production team , the camera team , writers and other crew members .

Anne Fletcher

Kerry Lyn McKissick

Dan Fogelman

Actors & actresses.

Barbra Streisand

Yvonne Strahovski

Colin Hanks

Brett Cullen

Ari Graynor

Kathy Najimy

Casey Wilson

Dale Dickey

Michael Cassidy

Brandon Keener

Robert Curtis Brown

Miriam Margolyes

Analeis Lorig

Gabrielle Gumbs

Rick Gonzalez

Vicki Goldsmith

Constance Esposito

Creed Bratton

Artistic design

Kathleen Walker

David Lazan

Joel Prihoda

Nelson Coates

Hope M. Parrish

Karen O'Hara

Oliver Stapleton

Sam Emerson

Costume & makeup.

Michele K. Short

Danny Glicker

Suzanne Cranfill

Terry Baliel

Mary Ann Valdes

Katrina Chevalier

Amy Schmiederer

Beth O'Rourke

Julie Hewett

Lisa Layman

Jayne Armstrong

Mark R. Byers

Thomas Whelpley

Tommy Tancharoen

Carol McConnaughey

Frank Yario Jr.

Movie editing.

George Chavez

Dana E. Glauberman

Priscilla Nedd-Friendly

Lighting techniques.

Amanda Mackey

Cathy Sandrich Gelfond

James Weaver

Hilary Marx

Evan Goldberg

Mary McLaglen

Lorne Michaels

John Goldwyn

Terrence Martin

Gretel Twombly

Julie Feiner

Chris Hogan

John C. Stuver

Andy Potvin

Scott Curtis

Darrin Mann

Craig S. Jaeger

Melissa Muik

Christophe Beck

Christopher Assells

Dino Dimuro

Karen Vassar Triest

Peter Staubli

Dan Hegeman

Peter J. Devlin

Scott Millan

Greg P. Russell

Chris Jargo

Karen Baker Landers

Special effects.

Eric Mancha

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The Guilt Trip (2012) Cast and Crew

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The Guilt Trip Full Cast

(2012) Get ready for one mother of a road trip. | Released

Revenue: $41,863,726

Budget: $40,000,000

Profit: + $1,863,726

Movie Details

Tag Line: Get ready for one mother of a road trip.

Status: Released

Average Rating: 6

Release Date: Dec 19, 2012

Rating: PG-13

Run Time: 1h 35m

Original Language: English

Production Countries: United States of America

Production Companies: Paramount , Skydance Media , Michaels-Goldwyn

People Rated This

None of your friends have rated this title yet

Age : 42 | Popularity : 30%

Barbra Streisand

Age : 81 | Popularity : 19%

Yvonne Strahovski

Age : 41 | Popularity : 86%

Colin Hanks

Age : 46 | Popularity : 11%

Brett Cullen

Age : 67 | Popularity : 15%

Age : 51 | Popularity : 20%

Ari Graynor

Age : 40 | Popularity : 17%

Kathy Najimy

Age : 45 | Popularity : 16%

Casey Wilson

Age : 43 | Popularity : 15%

Dale Dickey

Age : 62 | Popularity : 13%

Michael Cassidy

Age : 41 | Popularity : 12%

Brandon Keener

Age : 49 | Popularity : 7%

Robert Curtis Brown

Age : 67 | Popularity : 16%

Age : 71 | Popularity : 9%

Miriam Margolyes

Age : 82 | Popularity : 14%

Age : 61 | Popularity : 7%

Analeis Lorig

Age : N/A | Popularity : 6%

Gabrielle Gumbs

Age : N/A | Popularity : 3%

Rick Gonzalez

Age : 44 | Popularity : 14%

Vicki Goldsmith

Age : 42 | Popularity : 3%

Constance Esposito

Creed Bratton

Age : 81 | Popularity : 7%

Age : 70 | Popularity : 9%

Age : 66 | Popularity : 7%

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The guilt trip.

2012 Directed by Anne Fletcher

Get ready for one mother of a road trip.

An inventor and his mom hit the road together so he can sell his latest invention.

Seth Rogen Barbra Streisand Yvonne Strahovski Colin Hanks Brett Cullen Adam Scott Ari Graynor Kathy Najimy Danny Pudi Casey Wilson Dale Dickey Michael Cassidy Brandon Keener Robert Curtis Brown Nora Dunn Miriam Margolyes Rose Abdoo Analeis Lorig Gabrielle Gumbs Rick Gonzalez Worth Howe Vicki Goldsmith Constance Esposito Creed Bratton Jeff Kober Tom Virtue

Director Director

Anne Fletcher

Producers Producers

John Goldwyn Lorne Michaels Evan Goldberg Erin Doyle James Weaver Hilary Marx Gretel Twombly

Writer Writer

Dan Fogelman

Casting Casting

Cathy Sandrich Gelfond Amanda Mackey

Editors Editors

Priscilla Nedd-Friendly Dana E. Glauberman

Cinematography Cinematography

Oliver Stapleton

Additional Directing Add. Directing

Darrin Prescott

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Evan Goldberg Barbra Streisand Mary McLaglen Seth Rogen Dan Fogelman

Lighting Lighting

Production design production design.

Nelson Coates

Art Direction Art Direction

David Lazan

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Karen O'Hara

Special Effects Special Effects

Mark R. Byers

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Eric Mancha

Stunts Stunts

Debbie Evans Joanne Lamstein Chris Palermo Allan Padelford

Composer Composer

Christophe Beck

Sound Sound

Peter J. Devlin Scott Millan Greg P. Russell Karen Baker Landers Christopher Assells Dino DiMuro Chris Jargo Dan Hegeman Peter Staubli Karen Vassar Triest Scott Curtis Darrin Mann

Costume Design Costume Design

Danny Glicker

Makeup Makeup

Lisa Layman Amy Schmiederer Beth O'Rourke Julie Hewett

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Terry Baliel Katrina Chevalier Mary Ann Valdes

Paramount Skydance Media Michaels-Goldwyn

Releases by Date

19 dec 2012, 07 jan 2013, 24 jan 2013, 20 feb 2013, 22 feb 2013, 28 feb 2013, 01 mar 2013, 07 mar 2013, 05 apr 2013, 10 apr 2013, 11 apr 2013, 12 apr 2013, 13 apr 2013, 18 apr 2013, releases by country.

Theatrical M
Theatrical 0

Netherlands

Theatrical 6
Theatrical 11
Theatrical 12
Theatrical PG-13

95 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by aksel 4

This is a cute comforting movie and the reviews on this remind me most of the people on this website hate movies at this point but refuse to stop watching them because it’s their only personality trait.

it’s not the best movie ever but ITS A LITTLE CUTE!!!

Review by lain ★★★★

WHY IS THE RATING SO LOW ON THIS???? THIS IS SO PURE???? I DONT TRUST ANY OF YALL ANYMORE

Review by Dylan ★★★

Guilt Trip is entertaining enough to keep you interested, but not engaging enough to keep your attention from wandering. It is a ferociously funny comedy that takes a lot of risks and connects just enough, and it's a step above the normal comedies thanks to its innovative idea and quartet of charming comedic star turns. The entire ensemble does an outstanding job with their roles, and they all carry the film with such a strong feeling of charisma and flattery. While the plot may be a little too conventional and the story may not be particularly memorable, it is nonetheless a family-friendly comedy with some belly laughs and a loving message that takes unexpected turns. In many ways, it exceeded my expectations, and I must say, I enjoyed it!

Review by Ben Peterson ★★★½

Road trip movies have to have an ending that makes the whole thing worth it and this one really, really does. A legit teary moment from a genuinely invested Rogen and Streisand, who are both great, caps this wholesome and funny movie off perfectly. I think this movie is just a splendid little yarn.

Review by indi ★★

fuckgin appalling but i really related to barbra streisand renouncing men bc they probably wouldn't let her keep eating m&m's in bed right before she went to sleep

Review by daril 🪷 ★★★

I am guilty of finding this film cute! I do not trust anyone who gave this a low rating

Review by Cristiano Bertoni ★★½

Pretty mediocre comedy, still fun in some points tho.

Review by Mario 🟠🍃🔵 ★★½

It was alright, but I probably should have watched Pineapple Express instead.

Review by 🎞️📼Spencer💿📺 ★★

Warning DO NOT watch with a parent!

I can't comment much about this because every five minutes, my mother is asking me. Do I do that? Or When have I done that?

My mom is a lovely lady but im glad there are no road trips for us.

Review by ᴬⁿᵗʰᵒⁿʸ ⛧ ★★

Probably the shortest I’ve ever seen Barbra’s nails. 🗺

Review by 🌻 lindsay 🌻 ★★★★ 1

whole movie I was appalled he would talk to his mother like that leave her alone

Review by riki ★★★½

oh Barbara i love u be my second mother

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The Guilt Trip

Where to watch.

Rent The Guilt Trip on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand have enough chemistry to drive a solidly assembled comedy; unfortunately, The Guilt Trip has a lemon of a script and is perilously low on comedic fuel.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Anne Fletcher

Barbra Streisand

Joyce Brewster

Andy Brewster

Brett Cullen

Colin Hanks

Andrew Margolis Jr.

Movie Clips

Best movies to stream at home, movie news & guides, this movie is featured in the following articles., critics reviews.

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Movie Review

On the Road, With Their Baggage

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By Stephen Holden

Dec. 18, 2012

Contrary to what the title and casting might suggest, the Barbra Streisand-Seth Rogen comedy, “The Guilt Trip,” is not “The Shrew and the Cringing Meatball.” There are no screaming accusations, no threats or recriminations, no tearful apologies in this amiable mother-son road odyssey.

The guilt that Ms. Streisand’s character, Joyce Brewster, lays on her grown son, Andy (Mr. Rogen), a struggling inventor, is larded with enough sweetness and awareness of appropriate boundaries that its humor caresses rather than stings. Joyce’s complaints mostly have to do with Andy’s decision to live 3,000 miles away from her in Los Angeles. When his mother becomes overbearing, Andy, sucking in his lower lip, politely silences her. Joyce, even at her most psychologically invasive, never whines or raises her voice.

Directed by Anne Fletcher (“The Proposal,” “27 Dresses”) from a pallid screenplay by Dan Fogelman (“Crazy, Stupid, Love”), “The Guilt Trip” is so comfy cozy that mothers and their grown children can watch it together without squirming. Even Joyce’s recollection of the time Andy’s penis turned purple is a zany throwaway remark delivered without a trace of Freudian insinuation.

What could have been a cutting satirical farce about domineering mothers and emasculated sons is a mildly funny, feel-good love story in which Mom’s sensible advice helps turn around her nerdy son’s foundering career. Although the main characters are softened Jewish stereotypes, there is no mention of religion.

Andy, who studied organic chemistry at U.C.L.A., is traveling around the country pitching an organic cleaning product he invented that consists of coconut and palm-kernel oils, and soy. You can even drink it. But his presentations are so stiff and jargony that potential backers nod off while he is talking.

When Andy makes a rare visit to see Joyce in New Jersey, he and his mother begin reminiscing. Joyce remembers her first boyfriend before she married Andy’s father, who died when Andy was 8. She has since had no love life.

Andy, sleuthing on the Internet, discovers an unmarried corporate executive living in San Francisco who has the same name as that boyfriend. He invites his mother to join him on his eight-day cross-country return trip without telling her of his plan to look up her first love at the end of the journey. Joyce, not knowing his agenda, jumps at the opportunity to be with her only child for several days.

One bland running joke is Joyce’s obsessive thrift. She insists that they rent a subcompact car instead of an S.U.V., a decision he regrets when they find themselves sandwiched between trucks in an Arkansas blizzard. Joyce also insists that they share the same room in motels and disturbs him with her habit of crunching handfuls of M&Ms while in bed. Since Ms. Streisand , now 70, looks 20 years younger, it is not implausible when one leering motel clerk mistakes them for lovers. But the movie makes little of the confusion.

Joyce is frisky and game for adventure, and in a Lubbock, Tex., steakhouse she agrees to play beat the clock while consuming a 50-ounce steak. This challenge, which could have been milked for farce, is another missed comic opportunity in a movie so timid it seems afraid of its own shadow. The chief pleasures of this mild-mannered dud lie in watching two resourceful comic actors go through their paces like the pros they are.

“The Guilt Trip” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has mild innuendo and some strong language.

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The Guilt Trip is a 2012 American road comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher, starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen , who both also served as executive producers on the film.

Andy Brewster (Rogen), a UCLA-graduate organic chemist and inventor, visits his mother Joyce (Streisand) in New Jersey before leaving on a cross-country trip to Las Vegas. After his mother reveals that he was named after a boy she fell in love with in Florida named Andrew Margolis, and after a little research he discovers that there's an Andrew Margolis living in San Francisco, he invites his unknowing mother on the trip, claiming he wants to spend some time with her. The road trip quickly becomes hard for Andy as his mother continues to intervene in his life, but over time, Andy and Joyce begin to genuinely enjoy each other's company.

This film features examples of:

All for Nothing : At least in regards of the search for Andrew Margolis, it turns out that the Andrew Margolis Andy's mother was talking about died five years before, and the "Andrew Margolis" Andy had found was actually his son, Andrew Margolis Jr.
Bittersweet Ending : On one hand, Andrew Margolis was dead all along, so Joyce will not be able to clear the air with him. On the other hand, Joyce is assured that he thought about her in some way after being told he named his daughter Joyce; Andy is able to successfully pitch his product with Joyce's help; and Joyce and Andy's relationship grows much closer than they had been; plus Joyce arranges a date with Ben McGraw, the man she met during the trip.
Dead All Along : It turns out that Andrew Margolis, Joyce's old flame, died five years ago, the "Andrew Margolis" Andy found living in San Francisco actually being his son, Andrew Margolis Jr.
Road Trip Plot : The films is about a man and his mother having to go through a cross-country road trip. Hilarity Ensues .
Signs of Disrepair : Andy and Joyce are forced to make a stop after bad weather makes the roads bad to see. They come upon "Capital City TOPLESS Restaurant" but the "LE" is burned out and the sign reads "TOP__SS" which Joyce mistakes for "tacos".
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Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema.

THE GUILT TRIP

As inventor Andy Brewster is about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime, a quick stop at his mom’s house turns into an unexpected cross-country voyage with her along for the ride.

The Guilt Trip

An inventor and his mom hit the road together so he can sell his latest invention.

The Guilt Trip (2012) - Full Cast & Crew

Actors and roles, crew of The Guilt Trip (2012). Who was filming and what role he played.

Opinion Readers critique The Post: This power trip is one big guilt trip

Every week, The Post runs a collection of letters of readers’ grievances — pointing out grammatical mistakes, missing coverage and inconsistencies. These letters tell us what we did wrong and, occasionally, offer praise. Here, we present this week’s Free for All letters.

Regarding Glenn Kessler’s April 7 Fact Checker column, “ Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate falsely implies vaccines cause autism ”:

On behalf of all the parents of neurodiverse children in the world, thank you for debunking the myth that vaccines cause autism. Perhaps the most insidious message from those people is that somehow the parent of a child on the autism spectrum is to blame for their child’s condition.

As the father of a 21-year old who was diagnosed as autistic 16 years ago, I spent every day wondering why, how. Was it something we parents did?

Last month, we did a genetic test and found that he has a deletion at the 16p11.2 chromosome. It explained everything. The speech delay. The developmental delay. His autism spectrum attributes. That discovery wiped away years of guilt and fear because, for the first time, we could accept that his challenges were genetic, no different than the color of his eyes. That we parents did nothing wrong.

So shame on Kennedy and his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, for continuing to push the myths. They are causing incalculable grief and guilt on top of what is already an extremely hard issue to deal with.

And kudos to Kessler and all the other journalists holding them to account. Keep it up.

John Williams , Seattle

From accidents of birth to accidents of death

Regarding the April 5 front-page article “ Arms deal greenlit on day convoy was struck ”:

This headline and article conflated two entirely unrelated topics. Accidents happen in war, and they do not necessarily dictate a change in national policies. For example, according to Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, more than 432,000 civilians were killed in America’s post-9/11 wars. None of these accidental deaths deterred the United States from pursuing its military objectives.

It is in the national interest of the United States for Israel to defeat Hamas . A Hamas victory would embolden terrorists everywhere to commit the same kinds of depraved atrocities Hamas committed in Israel on Oct. 7. An Israeli victory depends in part on continued U.S. military support. And contrary to the misguided idea that fighting terrorists only produces more terrorism, it is the appeasement of those who support and inflict terrorism, such as the Iranian regime and its Hamas proxies, that encourages terrorists — and terrorism.

Daniel H. Trigoboff , Williamsville, N.Y.

Death notices at death’s door

First, Robert Thomson, a.k.a. Dr. Gridlock, left The Post. Then, John Kelly took a buyout. And now, the number of death notices in the daily paper has dwindled to a trickle. These three mainstays allowed readers to grasp the flavor of the Washington area without having to read about crime or tragedy.

Take the reminiscence of a Foreign Service officer’s wife who went with her husband to embassies around the world, with their five children in tow, or the notice for a 90-year-old woman who came to work for the federal government from a small town in the Midwest during World War II. Even tidbits about the departed, such as the observation that one man “was a voracious reader of the Washington Post, keeping issues for weeks and even months to make sure that he read every word from the front to the back page,” have lingered with me.

As an avid reader of them, I mourn the continued dwindling of these tributes to local human beings. That’s a shame, especially given the amount of money The Post charges to place these announcements.

Betty Lawson Walters , Rockville

Last rites for the last rights

I am a big fan of Ann Telnaes, a gifted editorial cartoonist with a keen ability to capture the political zeitgeist. But I must take issue with her March 29 cartoon, “ The right wing’s to-do list .”

She was all too correct about the right wing’s goal of eroding many rights that Americans have enjoyed for decades. But putting “voting rights” at the bottom of that list was incorrect. It is precisely by eroding voting rights at each and every opportunity that conservative Supreme Court justices, members of Congress and state and local officials will further eradicate our other rights. Once we lose unfettered access to the ballot, our most fundamental right, the rest of our rights will be at risk. Let’s hope Americans realize what is at stake in this year’s elections and vote.

Arina van Breda , Alexandria

Apples and oranges

In their April 3 Wednesday Opinion essay, “ The Taliban’s oppression of women is apartheid. Let’s call it that ,” Melanne Verveer, Karima Bennoune and Lina Tori Jan rightfully argued that gender apartheid should be recognized as a crime against humanity.

May I respectfully request that writers not distract us from their important points by giving us math homework? This essay presented statistics from before 2021 in absolute numbers of women and girls, and from after 2021 as “7 percent” and “2 in 10.” Comparing these statistics requires researching the populations of women and girls in Afghanistan in those years to get a sense of the scale of this crime. Apples to apples, please!

Meg Brosnan , Redwood City, Calif.

Apples and oranges and shrooms

The Post’s cartoonists need a refresher on the Book of Genesis, it seems. A “Rhymes With Orange” cartoon featured prominently in the March 30 Free for All cited Eve, of biblical renown, saying, “The trouble didn’t start after I ate the apple. It was after I ate the mushroom — that’s when the snake started talking.”

On first glance, I didn’t even get the cartoon. It was only after seeing it for the second time that I realized it was alluding to psychedelic mushrooms, not the regular kind, with which I am more familiar. But that closer glance also revealed the comic’s basic ignorance of the sacred text. As almost every beginning Sunday school pupil knows, the snake started talking to Eve before she ate the apple, not after.

Steven P. Levine , Bethesda

Our heads are out of joint

The March 30 front page featured this headline: “ ‘We train joint. We fight joint.’ ”

I thought I might learn more about this awkward headline in the first paragraph, but the phrase didn’t reappear until the third paragraph from the bottom of a very long article. I had to assume it had something to do with the Marines pictured near the headline testing antitank missiles. Readers should be informed by headlines, with no need to assume or guess the meaning.

Peggy Douglas , Rehoboth Beach, Del.

Why the cap on dunce caps?

The April 2 front-page article “ Trump ramps up his attacks ,” about Donald Trump ’s rants against the judges overseeing his various trials, included this sentence:

“And in a lengthy post on Easter Sunday, Trump wrote in all caps: ‘Happy Easter to all, including crooked and corrupt prosecutors and judges that are doing everything possible to interfere with the presidential election of 2024, and put me in prison.’”

Please, please quote Trump’s all-caps rants in all caps, just as he typed them. Why are you cleaning them up? With that stylistic choice, readers can’t get the full flavor of the former president’s social media rages.

Fred Kelemen , Philadelphia

Patron of the arts — or artist of patronage?

The April 3 front-page article “ From Calif. billionaire, a lifeline for Trump ” dove deeply into the background of Don Hankey, a wealthy California business owner who lent Donald Trump the money to satisfy his $175 million appeal bond in the New York civil case judgment. Hankey described the loan as a good business deal and also said he provided it, in the words of The Post, “because he agreed with the former president’s defense in the New York civil case.” The tone of the article was critical of Hankey’s business of offering high-interest loans to car buyers with poor credit and warned: “If Trump is elected, their relationship could come under new scrutiny if the government is involved in matters affecting Hankey’s business.” Fair enough.

But contrast this article with The Post’s coverage of Kevin Morris, also a wealthy California business owner, whom the Jan. 24 news article “ Hunter Biden’s art pieces garnered $1.5 million ” described as “one of Biden’s closest friends while also acting as an attorney and financial benefactor.” Morris purchased 11 of Biden’s paintings for $875,000. Morris’s connection to the Biden family was treated almost as an aside, though the article did quote a few parts of Morris’s House deposition in which he admitted to lending Biden approximately $5 million.

Lending millions to a client facing lengthy prison terms in tax and gun cases, and no apparent ability to repay, is an ethically questionable move for a lawyer and a financially questionable deal for a businessperson. That article noted that “ethics experts have questioned whether buying Hunter Biden’s paintings could be a dubious way for individuals to curry favor with the White House.” Why no equally deep dive into the background of Kevin Morris?

Joseph A. Capone , Oakton

The patron saint of artistic freedom

As one might expect, the March 28 obituary for Richard Serra, “ Steelworker turned sculptor left a legacy defined by massive masterworks ,” discussed the controversy surrounding the installation of his “Tilted Arc” sculpture in front of the federal building in Lower Manhattan. However, the obituary failed to mention that the removal of the sculpture in 1989 is generally credited with instigating the passage of the Visual Artists Rights Act in 1990 . The law gives the artist the right to protect his or her work of art from modifications, including wholesale removal that was the fate of “Tilted Arc,” during the creator’s lifetime and for 50 years after. The law was a watershed in establishing an artist’s control over his or her artwork after it was turned over to the patron. The removal of “Tilted Arc” didn’t merely help make Serra’s reputation, as the obituary noted. It helped protect all artists who followed him.

Daniel Feil , Fairfax

Patronizing the arts

The March 28 Style article “ In a shift, Rubell will go without local leader ,” about a management change at the Rubell Museum D.C., characterized the Washington regional “art scene” as “marked by two extremes — giant cultural treasuries on the National Mall and tiny nonprofits with shoestring budgets.” As artists, art professionals and board members of arts institutions in the area, we feel this description was both inaccurate and derogatory.

Of course our regional nonprofit visual arts centers have smaller budgets than the Smithsonian Institution. Despite their varying budgets, even the midsize and smaller regional nonprofit visual arts organizations in our area make sizable and very significant cultural contributions to a wide range of communities and audiences. Area residents are lucky to have access to a large, diverse ecosystem of nonprofit visual arts centers offering a wealth of visual arts activities that enrich the cultural life of greater Washington.

Richard L. Dana , Bethesda

Helen Frederick , Silver Spring

June Linowitz , Bethesda

Nancy Sausser , Glen Echo

It is large, it contains multitudes

After reading the March 31 front-page article “ Last hours of Baltimore’s Key Bridge: Dark, quiet, then calamity ,” I wonder whether The Post could help readers resolve what to some will seem like a disconnect between photographs and words.

The cargo ship Dali has a known capacity of just under 10,000 “twenty-foot equivalent units,” or TEUs, a shipping business measurement. The article said it was loaded with “only about 4,700” containers. But in photos, the ship does not appear to be half-full; it appears to be full. Articles might be unclear because actual containers are confused with TEUs.

A 40-foot container counts as two TEUs. I did a rough count from photos of the visible stack of mostly 40-foot containers (19 athwartships, by 9 or 10 high, by 16 rows bow to stern) and calculated more than 3,000 boxes. Add in an approximation of the containers hidden from view within the hull, and that might add up to approximately the claimed 4,700 containers, a figure that when multiplied by two is in the neighborhood of the almost 10,000 TEUs the fully loaded ship can hold.

If The Post consistently explained to readers the difference between a ship’s capacity in containers and in TEUs, and the difference between the number of containers the Dali had on board and how fully they were loaded, it would leave readers more informed about both the shipping industry in general and this disaster in particular.

Brad Thompson , McMinnville, Ore.

There’s even more under the surface

Regarding Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Praveena Somasundaram’s April 1 Retropolis column, “ A cleanup crane has origins in Cold War CIA ”:

The Soviet ballistic missile submarine K-129 that was partially salvaged by the heavy lift ship Hughes Glomar Explorer — as part of the secret Project Azorian — carried a crew of 99 men, including its captain, not “at least six crew members” as this piece stated.

The CIA undertook the salvage attempt in an effort to recover the one-megaton warhead of one of the three nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles carried by the K-129. The two other missiles were destroyed in the disaster that befell the submarine.

Because of damage to the Glomar Explorer’s lift claws during the attempted salvage, only 38 feet of the bow section of the K-129 were recovered. That section contained two nuclear torpedoes and the remains of six Soviet sailors. Their remains subsequently were buried at sea with military honors. A film of the burial was passed to the Russians after the fall of the Soviet regime at the end of 1991.

Project Azorian was the most ambitious maritime salvage effort ever attempted. The ballistic missile warhead that was the goal of that effort was not recovered.

Norman Polmar , Alexandria

The writer is co-author of “ Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of the K-129 .”

Not even a straw man could keep his cool over this

According to Mark Athitakis’s March 31 Book World review, “ Don’t worry, be stoic ,” “modern Stoicism finds itself somehow settling into Successories-style aphorisms, screw-your-feelings machismo and the ends justifying the means. This is many things, but it’s not a coherent moral philosophy.”

This claim is many things, but it’s not a coherent critique of Stoicism. The hollow “modern Stoicism” Athitakis criticizes seems more like a phantom philosophy of his own imagination than the philosophical movement as I’ve experienced it. He does not engage with meaningful contributions from the likes of William B. Irvine, whose 2008 book, “ A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy ,” is arguably a linchpin in the renaissance of this philosophy as practiced today. Had he done so, Athitakis might have encountered more of the modern Stoics who continue to emphasize duty and discipline, character and joy. Marcus Aurelius’s invocation that we “dwell on the beauty of life” might be “bumper-sticker” fodder. But it also happens to be a valuable insight.

Olev Jaakson , New York

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