There has been a bit of a panic since an erroneous report elsewhere that the impending statewide smoking ban will apply to theatrical productions. That has sparked all kinds of heated but irrelevant discussions about the danger of legislating art.
It will be illegal to smoke cigarettes onstage if the measure passes the state Senate and is signed into law, as expected. But ever since a controversy at Boulder’s Dinner Theatre got national attention in 1996, most every theater company has smoked spices, shavings or other noncarcinogenic materials that simulate tobacco smoke.
“The ban only applies to tobacco products,” said the bill’s author, Rep. Michael May, R-Parker. “So unless there is some other legal restriction regarding whatever product is used to simulate tobacco smoke, the show should go on.”
Briefly …
Denver Center Theatre Company alumna Jacqueline Antaramian is earning rave reviews at Philadelphia’s Wilma Theatre for her performance in Heather Raffo’s one-woman “9 Parts of Desire,” in which she plays a variety of Iraqi women whose lives have been upended over the past 20 years. … Country Dinner Playhouse has named Mitch Samu its first new musical director in nearly 10 years, replacing Wendell Vaughn. Samu was a big name around town two decades ago before moving to New York and amassing more than 200 credits, including Broadway’s “Little Shop of Horrors.” …
Several companies are collecting contributions for longtime local sound guru El Armstrong, whose home was hit by a fire a week ago. No one was injured, but the damage was substantial and his sound studio was destroyed. Send checks to the Victorian Theatre, c/o “Armstrong Contribution,” 4201 Hooker St., Denver, CO 80211.
