I just wrapped up directing a one-act play last weekend. It raised a lot of interesting questions, and one - that in retrospect I wish we'd given a bit more focus to - has a lot to do with this. Courtesy of "The General of Hot Desire" (based on Sonnets 153 and 154), by John Guare:
SAM: What the hell does this mean? "Love cannot be quenched - Cupid asleep by a magic spring." The world is falling apart. Bosnia - Northern Ireland - the Middle East - let's do a play about Cupid asleep? Cupid! Wake the f--- up! Art has to change the world. Art should be a call to action, not some essay on sleeping putti.

PHILLIP: This is a basically flawed argument. The old How can you have beauty when so much ugliness exists in the world? The old How dare you have comedy in a time of tragedy, love in a time of hate. It's a basically flawed argument. Art is one thing - politics is - it's not worth-

SAM: I refuse to do courtly sentiments of love. Art has to make some sense of life - illuminate life. That's the purpose of art. That's our duty.

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They both, I think, have good points - but, alas, that argument stays pretty much in those three lines. If the show had been this weekend instead of last, I think today would have seen a hardcore rehearsal discussing those lines, and the rest of the play in light of them.