...First, theatre does no harm. Theatre is one of those human activities that doesn't really hurt anyone or anything (except for its carbon footprint -- but let's ignore that for now). While we're engaged in making or attending theatre, or any of the arts for that matter, we are not engaged in war, persecution, crime, wife-beating, drinking, pornography, or any of the social or personal vices we could be engaged in instead. For this reason alone, the more time and energy we as a society devote to theatre and the arts, the better off we will be...
More at Theatre Washington - thanks to Liz Kimberlin for sending.