Colorado Supreme Court Bans Smoking in Plays

[The Straight Story]

Colorado Supreme Court Bans Smoking in Plays

Anne Archer and Andres Williams in "The Graduate"

Public health trumped free speech and artistic expression in Colorado on Monday when the state Supreme Court upheld a ban on all smoking in theaters…actors included. Colorado approved its Clean Indoor Air Act in 2006, setting off a legal challenge by local and national theater organizations that claimed the law infringed upon free-speech rights and interfered with their abilities to accurately produce plays, such as “The Graduate” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.” The ban is the first in the nation to force actors to rely on fake cigarettes when portraying characters who smoke.

While the state’s high court ruled 6-1 that the ban was constitutional because it aims to promote public health rather than stifle free speech, one judge took umbrage with the majority’s viewpoint. “A single puff of talcum powder, or a prop cigarette with a reflective tip or light placed at the tip, can hardly depict the ‘boozy veil of smoke’ necessary to ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’” fumed Justice Gregory J. Hobbs in his dissenting opinion. “Neither prop nor talcum cigarettes allow an actor to dramatically exhale a puff of smoke, as Mrs. Robinson does in ‘The Graduate.’”

Smoking on stage is also banned in Lincoln, Nebraska and Scotland.

http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews/Colorado_Supreme_Court_Bans_Smoking_in_Plays_91217

[no_hypocrisy]

1. So no more Noel Coward in Colorado?

[DavidDvorkin]

3. Simulated smoking

Just as the actors don't normally drink real alcohol.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. About time

A few years ago, we went to a play in a small theater in Denver and had the experience ruined for us when one of the actors smoked on stage.

In a big theater, we probably wouldn't have been affected by the smoke. In a small one, it's as bad as being in a small room with a smoker.

[SteveM]

4. The only thing stinkier than cigarette smoke is prohibition. (nt)