If the script calls for smoke, what then?

RE “Character Issue: Smoking,� by Don Shirley, Dec. 12: Smoke is smoke, and in a fire smoke kills; to the breathing-impaired it can suffocate; to those with allergies and sinusitis, it can irritate and hurt membranes; and it is not healthy for “healthy� people.

The stage is about illusions, and if Del Shores can get his actors to give a good illusion of smoking, then why can’t other directors?

Smoking should be banned from all public places, including theatrical productions, period.

MARGO HEBALD

Pacific Palisades

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A few summers ago, the San Francisco Opera Company staged the opera “Carmen� at the El Camino College auditorium. In one of the early scenes, to the surprise of all, the stage players pulled out, on cue, black stogies and lit them. I sat about 15 rows back. It took only five minutes for the putrid odor to filtrate back. It was nauseating.

If it is so important to have the actors smoke to maintain the story line, then the theater management should have the courtesy to provide breathing masks to the patrons.

FRANK O’LEARY

Redondo Beach