Denver’s Curious Theater Company said this week that it plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme court for the right to smoke non-tobacco products onstage, according to the Denver Post.
On Dec. 14, the Curious Theatre Company was one of three Denver theater companies that lost its case in the Colorado Supreme Court over Colorado’s ban on indoor smoking. The other two were the Paragon Theatre and Theatre13. The company said the ban is an unconstitutional infringement on freedom of speech as it applies to stage productions.
Currently, smoking bans and restrictions in the United States are under the jurisdiction of state and local governments. The theater companies say that Colorado’s Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006 is far more stringent than similar bans in other states, some of which exempt theaters from smoking bans. Colorado bans smoking in enclosed public spaces and includes prohibitions on cloves and other plant matter packaged for smoking.
The Colorado Supreme court upheld the ban in a 6–1 decision, saying that it does not transgress the theater companies’ First Amendment rights because the law is content-neutral and puts public health interests as the top priority. Justice Gregory Hobbs was the only dissenter.
He and other opponents of the ban say that fake cigarettes do not have the same dramatic impact as real ones, and lessen the performers’ ability to create the illusion of realism, the mission of theater. Also, some playwrights stipulate that their plays cannot be performed without smoking.
Supporters of the ban say that second-hand smoke is dangerous, though the effects of non-tobacco products are not documented as thoroughly. They also say that if performers can realistically portray death and drunkenness onstage, smoking fake cigarettes will not unduly detract from audiences’ enjoyment.
The Curious Theater Company was not available for comment.
On Dec. 14, the Curious Theatre Company was one of three Denver theater companies that lost its case in the Colorado Supreme Court over Colorado’s ban on indoor smoking. The other two were the Paragon Theatre and Theatre13. The company said the ban is an unconstitutional infringement on freedom of speech as it applies to stage productions.
Currently, smoking bans and restrictions in the United States are under the jurisdiction of state and local governments. The theater companies say that Colorado’s Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006 is far more stringent than similar bans in other states, some of which exempt theaters from smoking bans. Colorado bans smoking in enclosed public spaces and includes prohibitions on cloves and other plant matter packaged for smoking.
The Colorado Supreme court upheld the ban in a 6–1 decision, saying that it does not transgress the theater companies’ First Amendment rights because the law is content-neutral and puts public health interests as the top priority. Justice Gregory Hobbs was the only dissenter.
He and other opponents of the ban say that fake cigarettes do not have the same dramatic impact as real ones, and lessen the performers’ ability to create the illusion of realism, the mission of theater. Also, some playwrights stipulate that their plays cannot be performed without smoking.
Supporters of the ban say that second-hand smoke is dangerous, though the effects of non-tobacco products are not documented as thoroughly. They also say that if performers can realistically portray death and drunkenness onstage, smoking fake cigarettes will not unduly detract from audiences’ enjoyment.
The Curious Theater Company was not available for comment.
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