Jane Kaczmarek almost Lupone'd last night in GOOD PEOPLE — Page 2

I was walking through Worldwide Plaza yesterday and when I looked towards Starbucks there on 49th I saw a family of 4 sitting at the window seats. Mom, dad and 2 sons. The kids appeared to be about 6 and 10. Mom and dad had their faces planted in their smartphones and had laptops set up in front of the two kids. I watched for a bit and they never spoke to one another. The parents were actually facing awzy from the kids. Sad.

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I know of a family where the two pre-teen boys sit at their own computers in the same room and send messages to each other on Facebook.

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I did that at 9 to 5. I reached over and took that bitches phone. If ushers won't do it, we need to be our own superheroes.

Jordan raises a good point: It it up to us to police the situation? I've told people to turn off their phones--and got good results, too.

Perhaps we should shout out words of encouragement after the announcement is made before the show. Something like "Please do!" or "And keep them off!" If enough of us do it, the stooges may get the hint.

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sadly today's society is learning how NOT to have a real one-on-one conversation. I've been to enough parties where I see more people texting/online than having an actual conversation. And from working in restaurants, it's very common these days to have a family of 4 sitting at a table for an hour or so and no conversation takes place - each family member has their own phones out.

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The phone announcement is made, the house lights dim, and often for at least the first couple of minutes or so the phones are lit up.

This happened when I saw A CHORUS LINE. Stage management made the turn off cell phones announcement and as soon as they said "thank you and enjoy the show" the houselights went to black. So during the blackout you not only saw audience members all over the house fumbling with their phones...their brightly lit up phone screens could be seen in the periaktoi mirrors as they revolved during the blackout. Totally spoiled the moment.

The announcement should be made and then allow maybe 60 seconds for everyone to get turned off and settled down before the show starts.

They should also make an additional announcement 10 minutes prior to the start of the show in multiple languages.

It's a shame it's come to this. I agree with what LuPone said...something like "we've all lost our public manners".

And there are plenty of assholes out there who feel like rules never apply to them.

Personally, I LIKE having my phone off when I'm at the theatre. It usually goes off as soon as I get into the lobby, and doesn't go back on until after I've left.

It's sad no one takes the time to observe/o-ppreciate the architecture of the lobby and house. Enjoy the atmosphere and the experience!

It's also "me time" when I'm at a show, so I don't WANT to be bothered by anyone calling or texting my phone! :-P

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I always turn my phone off during shows (mostly out of fear that it might go off even though I generally keep it on vibrate all day anyway) but I have little sympathy for those who don't turn it off in time for the announcement. Do people really need to actually hear the entire announcement to know to turn off their phone? Don't they know that when they hear an announcement begin, it's going to eventually tell them to turn off their phones?

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During DEATH OF A SALESMAN, a loud, persistent beeping began in our immediately vicinity. Everyone within 10 feet was sighing and looking around and doing all the regular social-cue stuff, but no one was fumbling to correct the problem. Everyone was confused. It continued on for nearly a minute -- very disruptive, and that minute was an eternity. Finally, a boy of about 15 two seats down from me started rooting through the pockets of his jacket, produced the offending device, and silenced it. Someone sharply whispered, "Turn off your cellphone!" And the boy, sounding rather confounded and annoyed himself, said, "It was my iPod? It's never done that before!"

While noise-making devices are obnoxious, I try whenever possible to give people the benefit of the doubt that they either were tuned out during the announcement or it was a genuine mistake that their ring was on. I've certainly felt vibrations in my pants halfway through some Act 1s, only to realize that, while I pressed my phone's power button, I didn't confirm the shut down. And I go to the theater enough that I should be trained like a monkey to do such things, but we all make mistakes. So, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and not get too angry when spotaneous noise goes down, provided they correct the situation efficiently and with humility.

What I find far, far, far worse are activities deliberate and persistent, like actual use of cellphones or ongoing conversations or candy wrappers or snoring. There's no benefit of the doubt involved in situations like those. If you're engaged in that sort of behavior, you shouldn't be there.

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I turn my cell phone off completely before a play starts. And I do not turn it back on at intermission. Hey, if I should happen to get unpleasant news during Act 1, I'd rather find out later and not have my theatre experience lessened. As for other people: I am not shy about telling people to turn their phones off---and not at a whisper either. I have done that multiple times.

Auggie your post reminded me of one of my big pet peeves, people who talk all the way through an overture as if it's just background music. (Yes, I know overtures were created way way back partly to dim the chatter as they progressed, but)