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Theater News; First Amendment vs. Smoking Ban

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From: The Stranger
Date: 20060223
Author:Anonymous

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes declared that the First Amendment does not allow us to shout fire in a crowded theater--but will it let us smoke in one? The Seattle Repertory Theatre thinks so and will open a play on March 2 with rampant onstage smoking, contrary to 901 (AKA the smoking ban), citing the First Amendment as its justification.

The play in question is Noel Coward's Private Lives, a romantic farce written in 1930 and adorned with three indispensable upper-class accessories: booze, wit, and tobacco. "A Noel Coward play without a cigarette is like a Restoration comedy without a fan," ...

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