Bravo Ramin — Page 3

I think the era of micro-shaming is upon us, and in a lot of instances, it's perfectly fine. Especially if it's a few seconds' worth of death glare in a noisy theatre like the Imperial (as has been mentioned multiple times) and not a finger-wagging diatribe.

And a general tip for those with smartphones: Once you get inside, just turn your phone to airplane mode. That way even if you left the ringer on, it's not going to make a noise since no one can call you. If you somehow pick up nearby wifi and get a text, well, you're SOL, I guess...

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Gilmore girl, this seems to be an case of how much do these disturbances bother you? For you, Carlos and Winston, it isn't much of a problem. For me, when I'm engrossed into some art, I'm engrossed. Rude and entitled people who take me out of my world bother me very much. And while I'm on the topic of rude and entitled, for me this issue is more than the sound of a phone ringing, and more of a bright light in the dark. It's the plethora of human beings who are so rude, entitled, and inconsiderate who are behind these issues.

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Updated On: 4/16/14 at 11:04 AM

Jane, I don’t think the issue is how much it bothers us/how engrossed we are in the art (in fact, one could argue the opposite of what you are saying – that people who are not so bothered by these things are, in fact, more engrossed than others because they barely notice any disturbances). I think the point that I am arguing is that you are assuming that any phone that accidently rings belongs to someone who is “rude and entitled” and those people, therefore, deserve to be embarrassed beyond the natural embarrassment that will likely come from the cell phone ringing in the first place. A ringing phone is, more likely than not, an accident. We’re all human. We can do our best, but people make mistakes. They could have forgotten to turn their phone off (yes, even with the announcement). They could have thought they turned their phone off. They could have accidently hit a button. To call these people rude and entitled seems, to me, to be a bit much. Assuming the worst motivations in someone as opposed to giving them the benefit of the doubt seems to be the conflict here. I would not feel comfortable (as an actor onstage or a fellow audience member) inflicting the “punishment” I think they deserve for causing the disturbance, when it could just be a simple accident.

Again, I’m not talking about people who are just blatantly on their phones (especially when the lights are already down) or people who answer their phones while in the theatre or people who don’t try to immediately silence an accidental ring. I would, yes, categorize those people as rude and inconsiderate because they are blatantly and actively acting out of order. We don’t know if that is the case for all ringing cell phones owners, however.

I agree about the obsession with people and their phones - it certainly is out of control (as shown by my only recent upgrade to a smart phone and my only using the internet when necessary). But, an accidental cell phone ring does not necessarily mean people are rude and entitled.

Updated On: 4/16/14 at 11:27 AM

Jordan, I understand that and I can imagine how that growing disturbance can make an actor snap at some point. However, I still don't necessarily think it’s the right thing – or okay - to do.

"Jane, I don’t think the issue is how much it bothers us/how engrossed we are in the art (in fact, one could argue the opposite of what you are saying – that people who are not so bothered by these things are, in fact, more engrossed than others because they barely notice any disturbances). I think the point that I am arguing is that you are assuming that any phone that accidently rings belongs to someone who is “rude and entitled” and those people, therefore, deserve to be embarrassed beyond the natural embarrassment that will likely come from the cell phone ringing in the first place. A ringing phone is, more likely than not, an accident. We’re all human. We can do our best, but people make mistakes. They could have forgotten to turn their phone off (yes, even with the announcement). They could have thought they turned their phone off. They could have accidently hit a button. To call these people rude and entitled seems, to me, to be a bit much. Assuming the worst motivations in someone as opposed to giving them the benefit of the doubt seems to be the conflict here. I would not feel comfortable (as an actor onstage or a fellow audience member) inflicting the “punishment” I think they deserve for causing the disturbance, when it could just be a simple accident."

So are you saying that because out of maybe 100 phones that ring, we should excuse them all because a few of them were accidental? I don't think so.

"I would not feel comfortable (as an actor onstage or a fellow audience member) inflicting the “punishment” I think they deserve for causing the disturbance, when it could just be a simple accident."

And how are you to know if that was a simple accident? should you excuse it all the time because it had a slim chance of being an accident? I think if the "innocent" person received the dirty look from the actor, it may just cause them to be more careful next time. We're not talking about that person receiving a blow to the head, we're talking about a look.

As far as my being engrossed. I'm sensitive to noise and light, so yes, that would take me out of the art.

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Updated On: 4/16/14 at 11:44 AM

"people who are not so bothered by these things are, in fact, more engrossed than others because they barely notice any disturbances). "

I don't see it that way. I've been in the audience of quiet and intense scenes on stage when suddenly a phone rings. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that everyone was disturbed by it, engrossed or not.

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Gilmore Girl, I'm coming from a place of working FOH for over a decade. Some of that time was spent on ushering, and managing a house. I saw the reactions of patrons whose phones rang out. There's a distinct difference in those that were truly shocked to hear their phone and those who were "caught." There are certain things you learn when working in theaters that other people aren't aware of.

Another reason I say that only a few have their phones still turned on by accident is the large number of people in the audience who keep turning their phones on and off all night. And those who have their phones in their hands stuffed down into their purses so as to make it easier to keep looking at them. We notice a lot on staff.

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Updated On: 4/16/14 at 12:11 PM

I don't see how a wordless 5-second glance is stopping the show.

As for the whole "Is it an accident" issue: How are we defining "accident"? If you mean the person actually turned it off and somehow it got turned back on, I agree that's an accident (though it's never happened to me, and I'm pretty certain it's impossible with my phone).

But if you mean the person assumed it was off and didn't bother to check, then I don't think that's an accident so much as negligence.

Updated On: 4/16/14 at 12:44 PM

"Being a performer on the stage does NOT EVER give him that privilege."

Who are you to judge him and what he deems acceptable when performing? Seeing a show is a privilege, and an actor can react however they want when someone is being disrespectful.

"In fact, one could argue the opposite of what you are saying – that people who are not so bothered by these things are, in fact, more engrossed than others because they barely notice any disturbances."

Are you serious? When someone is reading their email right next to you, or talking/texting/playing games, screwing with food wrappers, etc. in a dark theater, of course you notice. It's always distracting, always annoying, and always takes you away from the performance, even for a second.

A phone went off possibly by accident. We don't know if the person thought his/her cell phone was shut off like I did and then the phone rang. It's unfortunate but I wouldn't constitute it as being disrespectful if it was an accident.

Are you serious? When someone is reading their email right next to you, or talking/texting/playing games, screwing with food wrappers, etc. in a dark theater, of course you notice. It's always distracting, always annoying, and always takes you away from the performance, even for a second.

You didn’t read what I said later. I said I don’t think that how engrossed someone is in the show is equivalent to how distracted they can get by disturbances and explained that I was simply putting this out there to show that the opposite argument could be made. Jane had asserted that perhaps me, Winston, and Carlos are not as engrossed when taking in theatre and that is why the cell phones don’t disturb us as much (which I don’t think any of us had said anything about it not being just as disturbing to us, we were simply talking about the handling of it when it happens). Also, I was referring to a cell phone ringing, not necessarily someone reading their email/talking/texting/playing games right next to you. No one is trying to argue whether or not a phone ringing is disturbing – I think we can all agree it is. The discrepancy is coming from how each person feels it should be handled.

I'm so paranoid about it, I probably check mine unnecessarily. Then I worry that I've accidentally turned it back on.

I do the same thing.

brdway411, I completely agree. People turning their phones on silent or vibrate isn't enough. They still can check it, and those people usually do. What is wrong with turning your phone completely off? When I was an Once, several ushers went around checking people's phone and made sure they were totally off, I hope that trend will continue. I have offered the "checking at the door" idea on here before, and people said it would just slow people down on the way out, and it wasn't a good idea. But, I still think something needs to be done.