The Twin Cities-based theatre company known as Outward Spiral has called a “town meeting” to discuss its future. At issue is not so much the cost of doing business – Spiral has always been a low-budget company – but whether there is still a place for a gay-themed troupe in an age when mainstream theatre regularly features gay characters and issue-themed plays. “It sounds scary and foreboding, but it’s a healthy conversation. Just as none of us is immortal, so does not every arts organization need to live forever. Art, like life, has cycles, and people who claim to have the perception and insight to produce art should be able to use those same skills to ascertain when an arts group has reached the end of its useful life.”