WHY Theater?

I wonder whether my work to discover HOW to make theater more sustainable, more fulfilling, more rooted ignores an earlier question about why theater at all? 

In some ways, the 20th century, and now 21st century, theater has done the same thing I have done, focusing on "how" instead of "why." 

In 1936, Walter Benjamin addressed the central question in "The Work of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction." My memory is that his answer centered on the concept of an original work's "aura" -- that it carries with it the singularity of its original creator. I must revisit this essay, along with Simon Sinek's Start With Why. 

After which my question is: HOW can art be separated, as much as possible, from commerce without becoming reliant on charity from the rich? Which is rooted in my lifelong moral objection to the very idea of rich people at all, and my sense that anyone who made a lot of money likely did so by exploiting others.