Roseville's John Marty Among Co-Sponsors on Bill To Ban Onstage Smoking

Roseville state Sen. John Marty is among state lawmakers co-sponsoring a bill that would  ban smoking in theatrical productions.

Marty joins Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-50), who introduced the legislation this week to add "theaters" to the list of public places where smoking is unlawful in Minnesota. Goodwin, who represents western and southern Fridley, did so in response to the strong reaction of a Fridley resident to cigarette smoke in on-stage theater productions.

The current state smoking ban gave an exclusion to theaters, Goodwin said, to allow for performances in which actors light up cigars or cigarettes.

Strong Reaction

"But we have a resident in Fridley who is very allergic to smoke," Goodwin said: Cigarettes bother her when she helps with theater productions behind the scenes or when she in in the audience.

"When she sits in the front row she has a strong reaction," Goodwin said. "

Goodwin is chief author of the bill to remove the exclusion for theater productions. Besides DFLer Marty, Becky Sheran (DFL-Mankato) is also a co-author.

Marty said he doubts that Goodwin's bill can pass this session given that Gov. Mark Dayton has previously indicated he doesn't support any further amendments to Minnesota's Clean Indoor Act. 

But Marty added, "I'm glad she (Goodwin ) is trying to point out the importance of public health." Marty contended the last big amendments to the law, which now bans smoking in bars and restaurants, actually have helped improve public health and actually benefitted many of those businesses. "That has been a huge improvement," he said.

Rather Switch than Fight

Meanwhile, Goodwin said that an alternative to regular on-stage smoking is for artificial cigars and cigarettes. That may not be much of a hardship, according to people in the local theater scene.

"A lot of theaters have already switched" to artificial cigarettes, according to Sheila Regan, a Minneapolis-based actor who also regularly writes about theater for the Twin Cities Daily Planet.

However, Regan noted that a performance Thursday at the Walker Art Center included a stageful of actors smoking.

Smoking onstage at community or school theater productions that take place on school stages is already prohibited, said Courtney Jahnke, who works behind the scenes at Mounds View Community Theater.

As for artificial cigarettes, a theater's "prop mistress or master [should] know where to get them," according to Jahnke.

Not Reviving Battle

Goodwin said her bill has nothing to do with a bar owner's attempt to exploit the exclusion in the smoking ban for theatrical productions.

Tom Marinaro, owner of Tank's Bar in Babbitt, MN, had outfitted patrons with "ACTOR" badges for "theater nights" on which they flouted the state ban.

But in 2009, a state Court of Appeals panel upheld a lower court's ruling that "theater nights" at bars violated state law. (.)

Could Goodwin's bill bring back past battles from when the Legislature banned smoking in public places? That's not Goodwin's intention either, she said, and she'd rather withdraw it instead.

If "people try to attach all kind of other stuff" to her legislation, she said, "then I'll just pull the bill."