NewsPatti LuPone "Putting Battle Gear On," Questions Stage Career After Cell Phone IncidentTony and Olivier winner Patti LuPone, who has confronted audience members who take pictures or use cell phones during a performance, issued a statement questioning her continued work on stage in the wake of the recent incident.
By
Robert Viagas
July 09, 2015
LuPone, as reported by Playbill.com, seized the cell phone of a woman who was using it during the July 8 evening performance of her latest play, Shows for Days, at Lincoln Center.
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Patti LuPone and Michael Urie Explore the World of Community Theatre in Douglas Carter Beane's Shows for Days
Patti LuPone and Michael Urie Explore the World of Community Theatre in Douglas Carter Beane's Shows for Days
Olivier and two-time Tony winner Patti LuPone stars as a headstrong community theatre diva in the Off-Broadway world premiere of Douglas Carter Beane's semi-autobiographical play Shows for Days, which also features Michael Urie as the playwright's impressionable and wide-eyed alter ego. Previews began June 6 at Lincoln Center Theater.
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Patti LuPone
Joan Marcus
Michael Urie, Patti LuPone, Lance Coadie Williams, Dale Soules and Zoe Winters
Ironically, the play is about the joy of working in the live theatre.
Here is the complete text of LuPone's statement, issued to Playbill.com July 9:
"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. Now I’m putting battle gear on over my costume to marshall the audience as well as perform."