Barrett Wilbert Weed from Mean Girls stage door incident — Page 2

Irv Kupcinet (Kup’s Show, in Chicago) Yes, but Betty you do belong to the public.



Lauren Bacall: No we don’t belong to the public. Why do you think we belong to the public?



Kup: Well, your name is in the press and your publicity depends...



Lauren Bacall: But that has nothing to do with my private life. My private life belongs to me. When I decided to be an actress, I did not sign a piece of paper relinquishing my rights to privacy. When people follow me down the street or see where I live, I mean I think that’s disgusting and it’s a very prevalent problem we have.



-1984

That's cool, but I expect that to change in the next few weeks.

While no performer owes anyone anything outside of their performance in the show, part of me wonders how much of the press this is getting is because of who this is. Barrett Wilbert Weed has had some rumours around her as not being the easiest person. So, while she makes valid points and is 100% allowed and should say what she needs to say, it feels a little 'sticky" to me to have it this come from her.

I completely agree with the majority of what she said. She absolutely doesn't owe anyone anything and she's been clear that she doesn't stage door and any real fans would be understanding of that. I've spent a decent amount of stagedoor time telling people a certain actor doesn't come out and if they get upset I waste no time in telling them they bought a ticket that entitles them to a performance only, not a specific actor, not an autograph, not a photo, etc....just the performance. Which they should be grateful to get since there are broadway fans all over who never even get to go to broadway to see shows.

However, it wasn't appropriate of her to generalize by saying all actors dislike/are scared by stagedooring...that's definitely not the case. A friend of mine who is a broadway actor absolutely loves to stagedoor. On the final performance of my favorite show some friends and I were standing off to the side waiting for a couple other friends because we were just too sad to actually stagedoor, and one of the actors finished up and came around and walked right to us, gave us all hugs, and thanked us for coming so often and told us that the cast realized how special the show was when they saw people like us come back time after time and it meant the world to them. I ended up seeing an understudy on two different occasions and I told her at the stagedoor how great she was and how happy I was to see her again and she couldn't believe I had seen her the previous week and gave me a hug. Two of my all-time favorite actors have actually asked if they could hug me and one actually messaged me on twitter telling me how sweet I was. However, the crazies really ruin it for us normal people who just want a chance to thank our favorite actors. I had to tell a girl at one stagedoor that she needed to just calm the f down and treat the actor like a human because she was being ridiculous (bet everyone can guess what summer show that was lol). All my theatre friends have had experiences like this and I've witnessed random people having them as well, and it's lovely. The actors obviously aren't all scared. So while I completely understand where Barrett is coming from and that her post was obviously made in justified anger, it was a little cruel of her to insinuate stagedooring is a completely awful experience for all actors. I can't imagine how awful it is to have some random person throw themselves on you or stop you and think they're entitled to your time, however, the majority of broadway fans do know how to act. She's absolutely entitled to her boundaries and her fans absolutely need to respect them, but she also shouldn't be projecting them onto everyone else.