Theater Manners

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/25/08 at 3:03pm

I found this statement by playwright Suzan Lori Parks somewhat distressing. She seems to be saying that it's OK for bad theater manners to exist.

"I'm encouraging people to rethink what a black play is, that a black play is perhaps a work of theatre that invites everyone to the table. A lot of the folks who came to see 'Topdog/Underdog' were African-American kids, young folks. Most of them had never really been to a play before. So that was their first experience in the theatre. They didn't know to show up when the curtain said eight o'clock. And they were coming in with their cell phones on. And it was fantastic."
Link

[MadPhan]

Posted: 8/25/08 at 3:23pm

I can understand how people new to a theater experience may not always know the proper practices of a theater, such as whether or not to tip a helpful usher is polite, or how much clapping is polite after a song w/o throwing off timing and slowing down the action, etc. Those are things that are unique to the live theatre experience and how would you know about those things w/o experiencing them? The things she states, however, are just plain good manners. Showing up on time and turning cell phones off during a show, class, meeting, etc are just common curtosy. She did say they were kids though... I guess they just didn't know better...

[Broadway Baby 2]

Posted: 8/25/08 at 3:25pm

Showing up late for curtain is not "fantastic". Ugh. Id incourage her to pay for my tickets if she acts in that manner at a show im attending.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/25/08 at 3:27pm

I think there's a valid point somewhere in what she's saying.

But showing up on time and turning off your cell phone? Surely that's no different than going to a movie.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 8/25/08 at 3:27pm

When she refers to "kids," I'm assuming that they were unchaperoned late teens. If they were, say, under 14 or so, I'd hope that an adult was accompanying them -- an adult who would know some of the basic rudiments of proper theatre etiquette.

[Weez]

Posted: 8/25/08 at 3:48pm

What I *hope* she's saying is a very poorly phrased version of "this play got people into the theatre who ordinarily would never have come into a theatre; it was fantastic". I find it incredibly hard to believe that anyone connected with theatre (beyond throwing their money at it so they can sit and watch for a couple of hours) thinks that it is the late arrivals or the cellphones being left on that is being considered fantastic.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/25/08 at 4:39pm

"But showing up on time and turning off your cell phone? Surely that's no different than going to a movie."

Reg, that's about how they act at the movies too.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/25/08 at 4:43pm

"What I *hope* she's saying is a very poorly phrased version of "this play got people into the theatre who ordinarily would never have come into a theatre; it was fantastic". "

Having sat through TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, I'd say that poor phrasing seems to be a habit with Ms. Parks.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 8/25/08 at 4:43pm

"that's about how they act at the movies too"

I was thinking that as I typed it. But the point remains: it's not because they don't know. It's because they don't give a sh*t.
Updated On: 8/25/08 at 04:43 PM