The Tony-winning actress plucked a cellphone from an audience member who kept texting during a performance of 'Shows for Days' on Wednesday night, July 8.
- Jul 10, 2015
AceShowbiz - Patti LuPone made headlines on Thursday, July 9 after she grabbed a cellphone from texter during her broadway performance in the previous night. Patti walked into the audience and took the cellphone from an audience member who kept texting in the middle of play "Show for Days" without breaking her character.
Following the incident, the Toni-winning actress issued a statement, "We work hard on stage to create a world that is being totally destroyed by a few, rude, self-absorbed and inconsiderate audience members who are controlled by their phones. They cannot put them down. When a phone goes off or when a LED screen can be seen in the dark it ruins the experience for everyone else - the majority of the audience at that performance and the actors on stage."
"I am so defeated by this issue that I seriously question whether I want to work on stage anymore," she continued, "Now I'm putting battle gear on over my costume to marshall the audience as well as perform."
In a phone interview with New York Times, Patti recalled the phone-grabbing incident, "I watched [the texter] and thought, 'What am I going to do?' At the very end of that scene, we all exit." The "Parker" actress added, "What I normally do is shake the hand of the people in the front row. I just walked over to her, shook her hand and took her phone. I walked offstage and handed it to the stage manager, who gave it to the house manager."
She explained, "I don't know why they buy the ticket or come to the theater if they can't let go of the phone. It's controlling them. They can't turn it off and can't stop looking at it. They are truly inconsiderate, self-absorbed people who have no public manners whatsoever. I don't know what to do anymore. I was hired as an actor, not a policeman of the audience."
When asked if she really meant it when saying that she "seriously question whether [she] want to work on stage anymore" following the incident, Patti said, "Absolutely. It's getting worse. I'm hired to tell a story, and it takes a lot of effort and work to do that convincingly. It's a handful of people who destroy that experience for everyone. It's heartbreaking. Theater is not a social event."
