Nathan Gunn

The arts can make strange bedfellows, and now there’s a reason to mention Marilyn Monroe, Sweeney Todd and William Calley in the same breath.

In its latest round of grants, the National Endowment for the Arts has embraced productions by three California-based groups that will bring to life the ill-fated sex symbol, the blood-soaked London barber and the even-more-blood-soaked U.S. Army lieutenant.

The federal arts-funding agency announced $29.1 million in grants this week, funneling taxpayer money to 1,116 recipients -- 36 individual poets who got writing grants, and the rest nonprofit groups. 

California will reap $4.2 million in grants -- a 14.4% share of...