Known for his sexually-charged role of werewolf Alcide Herveaux on HBO's "True Blood," Manganiello returns to the stage in the Yale Rep production of Streetcar, which officially opens Sept. 26 for a run through Oct. 13.
Manganiello initially took to Twitter to address the audience member who was taking photographs during the Sept. 25 performance. "Dear person taking pictures during our show tonight... The ushers are going to be looking for you and you will be thrown out..." He continued, "...you are insanely distracting to all of the actors onstage and incredibly rude. If you read this, please leave and don't come back."
Yale Alumni Magazine also reported that Manganiello also addressed the audience member during a scene with Stella. "Can you stop with the camera? You have no idea how distractin' it is!," he remarked, remaining in character and returning to complete the scene.
Manganiello later Tweeted, "I'm happy to take pics outside after the show and @yalerep posted some fantastic shots of the play that they took. Please be respectful."
A spokesperson for the production issued the following statement to Playbill.com: "Photos were taken repeatedly from the audience during the first act of last night's performance of A Streetcar Named Desire, and again in the second act even after an announcement was made to the audience during intermission. Joe Manganiello appropriately addressed the matter from the stage on behalf of the company when the camera's clicking noise continued during the play's third act, then proceeded with the remainder of the performance." The Playbill.com photo gallery of Manganiello in Streetcar can be viewed here.
Yale Rep's Streetcar also features René Augesen (Spinning into Butter) as Blanche DuBois, Sarah Sokolovic (Detroit, Relatively Speaking) as Stella Kowalski, Adam O'Byrne (The Winter's Tale, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) as Harold "Mitch" Mitchell, with Phillip Christian, Nick Erkelens, Mercedes Herrero, Marc Damon Johnson, April Matthis and Ken Ruta.
For ticket information visit yalerep.org or call (203) 432-1234 or go to the Yale Rep Box Office (1120 Chapel Street).
