Twitter and Facebook lit up July 4 and 5 after several cast members and audience members posted their speechlessness at a report that an audience member had clambered onto the stage of the Booth Theatre and tried to plug a cell phone charger into an outlet on the set of Hand to God.
After a few days of intense media attention from morning talk shows, People magazine, Fark, The New York Post and other outlets, the production decided to embrace and have fun with what otherwise might have been an embarrassing controversy--including creating a social media ad that referenced it. Publicists for the show today supplied Playbill.com with this footage, apparently shot by an audience member, of the (so far) unidentified young man doing the deed:
Set designer Beowulf Boritt should feel flattered that the outlet looked real enough to be used for that, but, of course, it was a prop outlet.
A production spokesperson confirmed to Playbill.com that the incident occurred July 2. A posting from Chris York on Facebook contained the following account: "At 'Hand to God' tonight I saw on audience member climb onto the stage right before the show and plug his cell phone into a (fake) electrical outlet on the set. ON. THE. SET. The crew had to stop the precook music, remove the cellphone, and make an announcement as to why you can't do that. Truly. I am a quiet and reserved person and I took great joy in loudly heckling the idiot when he returned to take his phone back. Moron. Has theatre etiquette--heck, Common Sense--[really] fallen that far??"
Cast member Sarah Stiles posted the following tweet on July 2:
A guy jumped on the stage and plugged his phone into the fake outlet on our set just before we started.
@HandtoGodBway
#fullmoon or
#idiot ?
— Sarah Stiles (@Lulubellestiles)
July 3, 2015
Cast member Marc Kudisch posted the following tweet on July 3:
Dear general audience, an electrical socket that's a part of the set of the play is NOT for you to charge your iPhone.....just an FYI.....
— Marc Kudisch (@MarcKuds)
July 4, 2015
While you're absorbing that, check out our list of Other Things You Shouldn't Try To Do at a Broadway Theatre.
