The chairman of the NEA recently said we might have too much theater in this country. Rocco Landesman was quoted by the New York Times thus: “You can either increase demand or decrease supply. Demand is not going to increase, so it is time to think about decreasing supply.” This is heresy on every possible level. To speak such words in Washington is practically begging the city to physically expel you like a splinter worked out by the body’s protective powers. 

Among the enlightened, it’s a given that more people should attend the theater. It’s beyond debate that more money — …