Yondr Pouches

https://www.overyondr.com/

With the ever growing rise in people using their phone during a performance I would love to see something like this made standard in all Broadway theaters. I went to Hannah Gadsby's show which used them and it was a fairly easy process. Some people of course tried to hide their phone and sneak it by but it meant any time a phone was seen or heard within the theater an usher could quickly get to it and place it in a pouch. During the show not a single phone rang, buzzed, or glowed and it was fantastic.

I've been made to use them twice:

Once at Freestyle Love Supreme at Greenwich house where it was quite seamless.

The second time was for Aziz Ansari at BAM where the opening act didn't come on until nearly half an hour after the time printed on the tickets, likely because of the security checkpoint. Lines just to enter the building were wrapped around the block. I imagine Broadway houses would be more akin to this experience. In any case, Yondr pouches would be an enormous shift in front of house culture. I'd be interested to see some trial runs before coming down on either side of the costs/benefits.

Updated On: 7/23/19 at 10:29 AM

as has been rehearsed here many times, it is highly unlikely for the standard Broadway show (as opposed to a comedy act or the like) because there is no incentive to undertake the cost and complication.

zainmax said: "HogansHero said: "as has been rehearsed here many times, it is highly unlikely for the standard Broadway show (as opposed to a comedy act or the like) because there is no incentive to undertake the cost and complication."

Can the Bway League get involved? Not sure how GalaPro's rollout worked."

I have stated it before and will again, this is nothing but a pipe dream and will never be done across the board on Broadway. Yes, it has been used at theaters holding special events. But, the production pays for it. Whereas for Gala Pro, it's deemed an important thing to have so that everyone can enjoy the show. So, the theatre companies contract them out and use them. I feel that it's a better thing for say, customer service. Whereas, the pouches aren't by any means. And, for those that may think that they will have a person there who can take care of it all, they do have that with Gala Pro too. Yet, I can't tell you the number of times where, say, I am seating folks in the mezzanine, the station for the gala pro hearing devices are in the orchestra level, and someone asks me to help them out with it. And, to be honest, I have zero clue personally. And, I am sure that I am not the only usher who falls into that category. The same will come up for the pouches for sure.

Also, the theatre owner's Nederlander, Schubert etc, are very big on customer service and making sure that those attending have an amazing experience specially since many of them are not from NYC. I feel that having the pouches would directly contradict the mission statement these company's are trying to put into play.

zainmax said: "Got it. Good points.

Wouldn't this have prevented what happened at Frankie & Johnny with Audra??? At least in theory."

Of course. I’ve been to countless filmings of sitcoms and these are used. Since it’s locked in that bag, you have zero temptation to access it. Someone mentioned they’re easy to open but you REALLY need to go full out and semi-destroy the pouch if you’re that determined to get your phone out. The ushers have the snap-gun that opens the pouch so if you need to use it, you can easily do so in the lobby. They will lock up your phone again when you’re heading to sit again. It’s not like you can not use your phone at any time during the performance. You can, just not at your seat.

It will absolutely be used more and more across all different kinds of theaters, and on Broadway as well. Looking forward to it.

zainmax said: "Read somewhere that the next upgrade with use tech to wirelessly unlock all pouches at once."

This would go a long way in addressing my personal concerns about the pouches. As a complete non-offender, I would definitely resent any delay in leaving the theater because of the sins of those who use their phones during a performance.

DoTheDood said: "Only problem if this does happen, RIP all those Instagram photos of showing off the Playbill and the stage. Pics of the marquee will have to replace them."

Fair trade.

I had not thought of GalaPro until now. If they were going through with this, I'd expect (I really want to say 'demand' them at least to adopt something like the smart glasses at the NT; still, I think GalaPro saved them a good deal of time. Smart glasses and other devices would make the line for hearing aids busier, but with GalaPro, once you get a hold of it, you're good for all the other shows you see. Personally, GalaPro has given me so much.

Personally. I'd really miss the Playbill pictures. I wonder to what degree marketing teams consider them as part of their online brand strategy.

HogansHero said: "Note, btw, regarding Freestyle, that like Chapelle this is a special situation where the material is not scripted and is chilled by the possibility of someone recording it."

Isn't it also very different, though? In the sense that comedians tend to workshop materials and don't want it out there before they can put it on Netflix for a good payday. Whereas FSL is different every time?

jbird5 said: "At the Chappelle show am attendant took the phone and put it in the pouch and secured it. It’s not foolproof but he was checking to make sure they were off. He even had to show one woman how to turn her phone off because she didn’t know how (no she wasn’t a senior)."

Why should an attendant people able to touch my phone? Who pays for the phone when one of these attendants drops it and breaks it?

Why do we have to all be treated like children because of a couple of morons? I hate it.

I've had to use these pouches a couple of times during comedy shows (one was Chappelle at Radio City; another was Two Dope Queens) and while I would love for them to be utilized on Broadway, I don't see it happening for a few reasons:

1) If I recall correctly, your phone can still be turned on while it's in the pouch. So while it may prevent people from taking photos or accessing their phones during a show, it's not going to prevent it from ringing. And that might make things worse, since you won't be able to open the pouch to silence it.

2) The aforementioned comedy shows that used the pouches didn't have intermissions. While I'm happy to silence and store away my phone during a show, I want to be able to use it at intermission. It would take a LONG time for ushers to go around unlocking people's phones for a 15 minute intermission. So much time would be wasted. It's just not feasible. The pouches would only work during a show with no intermission. (Freestyle Love Supreme is 80 minutes with no intermission, according to the show's website.)

3) I think more and more producers are realizing the benefits of a pre-show or intermission pic on social media. (Someone mentioned the Playbill pic that's ubiquitous on Instagram.) Like it or not it's being embraced as a beneficial form of free marketing. I don't think producers would want to prevent people from posting pics like that. (A lot of shows even encourage hashtags to be used.) Locking up their phones before they get to their seats would put an end to that.

Cell phone distraction is a problem that's not going away anytime soon, unfortunately. People just have to stop being assholes, but that will never happen.