Oy.

[DEClarke]

On 12/28/12 Hiffington Post ran a story on "Tweet Seats." Are these things still happening? Are people really buying into this?

At least the article claims they're at the back of the balcony. Hopefully, that location makes it a little less disturbing to others. All I know, is I'm not paying any price to sit near someone who wants to Tweet and Text the whole show. Anything you have to say at live theatre (electronically or vocally) can wait until intermission or afterwards. And before it starts, I'm look at you NewYorkTheater, Tweeting and Texting at a live performance is NOT the same as Tweeting and Texting during GLEE or SMASH. It costs audiences much less to view an episode of SMASH than it does to see a Broadway Performance. When they watch SMASH, they are not watching it live. They are not usually sitting in a darkened room. And guess what, as they Tweet and Text (unless they're doing it during a commercial break), they have actively disengaged from the entertainment they're "enjoying" and missing things.

Minnesota Theater Offers 'Tweet Seats' To Smartphone Addicts

[dramamama611]

Godspell did it for a very limited time -- maybe even one performance only -- but I might be wrong.

To the best of my knowledge, no other theater in NY has followed suit.

Thank goodness.

[Movidude742]

yeah one performance, the tweeters were invited by the producers from people who tweeted a lot about the show already and knew the flow of the show so they would not tweet during scenes that were more dimly lit. They were in the back row of the Circle in the Square so they would be least likely to be seen.

But yeah it was just one night and they didn't repeat the experiment, so take that for what it is worth

I am of two minds on the issue. I think it could work with rules like this, but acknowledge that if people know that tweeting is allowed, but not the specifics, you will have people breaking out the smart phones in the open not realizing they are breaking the rules.

Even if the pre show announcement points out use of phones is prohibited except in tweet seats, there will be a few who knowingly or otherwise claim that they didn't know they were not in tweet seats so assumed they could.

[trentsketch]

Some smaller movie theater chains are experimenting with Twitter screenings, but very few live theaters are doing it. Godspell did one performance and they handed out screens that dulled the lights from the phones and kept the users in the back of the auditorium to minimize distractions.

Seriously. If you need to live tweet a stageshow, there's no way you're actually paying attention to the show. You might as well wait for a good bootleg to come out if you're paying that much to not look at the stage.

[dramamama611]

Just another examle proving that people are more interested in documenting their lives rather than living their lives.

[Kelly2]

I hate this with a deep, firey passion. Anyone who cannot pay attention for 2.5 hours without texting, tweeting, or checking their Facebook really has no business going to the theatre at all.

[dramamama611]

I think the point is: that by providing these "seats" they are being further encouraged to BE connected.

[Kelly2]

Which is the worst part. I mean, if you've ever babysat a tween within the past couple years, you know how hard it is to get them away from their iPhone already. Why would you take one of the few places left where it's not okay to be staring at it constantly and say "No, go ahead, during LIVE THEATRE, feel free to not pay attention and tweet your friends"? Uck.

[darquegk]

People are fully allowed, and in fact probably encouraged, to tweet at intermission. I can't think of anything wrong with plugging in during interval- almost everyone does it. But during the show? I'd rather not.