Bill AB-2540 is going before the California legislature on Monday, 4/23.

This bill will impose a 7.5% sales tax on tickets to live theatre productions.

The bill does not include a sales tax on any other forms of entertainment, including opera, concerts or sporting events.

"(20) Access to live theater productions through the purchase of a ticket or membership fees or dues."
This bill equates live theatre to hair transplants and expensive pet grooming.

Theatres provide an outlet for communities to connect through visceral storytelling. These connection can run deep, tapping into vulnerable human truths, where we watch creative teams unfold their souls to relay a story to their audiences. Messages are sent back and forth between audience and performer; a pulsing rhythm that can rupture our standing beliefs, make us question how we live our lives, and give us the rare freedom to laugh out loud, gasp in shock, and quietly cry together.

Our government is proving that when times get tough, things have to go.

Theatre is one of the highest forms of human expression.

It is not a luxury. It is a necessity. It is time we reassess our values.