"They say the world is old. I know it; just the same/Like any child it needs to be diverted with a game." La Fontaine's apothegm still holds true. Audiences—the people of the world as assembled in a theater-are always infants. They need diversion, and they need it all the time, most particularly if you plan to teach them anything. It would be a mistake, though, to assume automatically that, being childlike, audiences are stupid, which is never true. Children are like Americans: not stupid, simply uninformed. Give them all the facts and they will catch on soon enough. But before, during, and after that time, they need diversion.... More >>>