Sunday, June 28, 1998; Page C08

My husband and I are avid theatergoers with season tickets to four area stages.

I am also a nonsmoker who is "sensitive" to tobacco smoke. By this I mean that within a few minutes of breathing in cigarette, cigar or pipe smoke, my throat stings as if it were being scraped by sandpaper and my eyes burn as if I had plunged them into a bowl of raw onion slices. Naturally, I was delighted when various area theaters and performance centers, such as the Kennedy Center, went smoke-free.

Ironically, however, as more theater lobbies have been put off limits to smokers, theater directors seem to be choosing to have actors smoke onstage, often through much of the performance.

Earlier this month, my husband and I were in our usual fourth-row seats for a production of "Sweet Bird of Youth" at the Shakespeare Theatre in the Lansburgh Building. The play was superbly staged and acted, but my enjoyment of it was ruined by the lead actor and several supporting actors chain-smoking through all of their scenes.

Michael Kahn, who so ably directed "Sweet Bird of Youth," might think that the onstage smoke was being vented out of the building without entering the rest of the house, but he would be wrong.

I tried to filter out the smoke by placing a tissue over my nose and mouth, and I tried to suppress my urge to cough so as not to spoil the show for other patrons. As soon as I got home, I took two aspirin and used an over-the-counter spray for sore throats. Nevertheless, I was in discomfort much of the night.

I am healthy and got over the effects of the smoke after a day or so, but what about the health of audience members who might have asthma or emphysema?

I single out the Shakespeare Theatre because my experience there is freshest in my mind, but the use of cigarettes as a stage prop is common among productions I've seen in recent months: the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "Hamlet," with its cigar-puffing Claudius, and "Shooting in Madrid" at Signature Theatre to name but two. Smoking is common in many community theater productions as well.

I realize that this is a directorial decision made for purposes of characterization or authenticity to the era in which the play is set. But I presume directors manage to stage plays taking place in the '60s, for example, without having the actors smoke real marijuana. Alcoholic characters guzzle tea or colored water on stage. Surely a substitute can be found for cigarettes and cigars, or at the least, they could be left unlit.

I do not know whether onstage smoking violates the public accommodations and service section of the Americans With Disabilities Act. I suspect it may. But at the least, advertisements for productions containing extensive smoking should contain the words:

"Smoking Onstage. Unsuitable for Persons with Respiratory Ailments."

Posting a notice in the lobby, as some theaters now do, is insufficient. At that point, people already have committed themselves to an evening of theater and paid handsomely for tickets, parking and perhaps a babysitter. And a mailing also should be sent out to the holders of season tickets in advance of individual shows that include smoking offering them a full refund for the show in question.

-- Rochelle H. Schwab