Winston-Salem is the home to both RJ Reynolds and the North Carolina School of the Arts.  Until now this seemed just a coincidence to me, but now I think the folks at RJR may have seen the future decades ago and worked behind the scenes to make sure the NCSA came to Winston.  Here’s why: to get around smoking bans in liberal states like California and Minnesota bars are starting to have theater nights. It seems that in these states actors are allowed to light up during live performances, and so bars are staging plays and calling all the patrons actors.  Nifty!

Here’s a piece about the smoking ban work-around on Boing Boing, and the article they link to in The Star Tribune, the newspaper of record in those other Twin Cities in Minnesota.

I’m thinking that RJR’s marketing folks need to get hyper aggressive in promoting bar-plays AND their lobbyists need to get busy making sure this loophole doesn’t close any time soon.  To push bar-plays they should print and distribute free of charge every play that features multiple characters sucking on cancer sticks.  Better yet they should commission students at NCSA to write plays in which every character smokes and have multiple crowd scenes.

And while they’re at it why stop with bars?  They should see if this work-around applies to schools.  Those kids are always doing plays and I keep hearing how those commie-educators are constantly cutting back on arts programs so school plays offer a perfect opportunity for business/education synergy.

This’ll show those rubes at truth who’s in charge.