Mockingbird Hill Cottage

The view from my apartment window in Hartford. I was on the tenth floor this time instead of the usual fourth floor apartment and I had a better view.

These little trips are always so intense; packing, taking along some food and some coffee – whatever I might need for two days – the drive, toting everything 5 blocks to the apartment (this time in extremely cold and windy weather) unpacking, eating a frozen dinner, then off to the theater to take notes. The next day; writing up the notes, packing everything up, cleaning up the apartment, disposing of the trash, wheeling my suitcase 5 blocks or so to my car (which was in a parking structure right next to the theater), then grab a bite to eat because I won’t get home until 7 pm, then four hours of rehearsal and notes for the actors. Back in the car for a two hour drive home. None of it is difficult, necessarily, just a change from my low-key everyday life. Don and I have these kinds of days when we’re employed and then we go through re-entry when we’re back home. I’m grateful, of course, for employment and for the chance to change things up a bit, to interact with the actors and technicians. Keeps me sharp! It’s all good.

Most of the way home yesterday, I got to watch the most beautiful sunset! It was at its peak as I headed toward the Hudson River. Just gorgeous.

Jane Eyre  looks good – they’re still in the middle of previews, those performances that are pre-opening night. That means they still rehearse during the day. The actors are pretty tired out at this point, so they will be looking forward to their day off tomorrow.

During Friday’s performance, a woman’s cell phone kept going off. She happened to be two seats away from me. Once? Okay. We all make mistakes. Three or four different times? No. The worst was when it kept ringing and ringing and I watched her push little buttons and look perplexed and STILL it kept ringing. This went on for a couple of minutes. I finally turned to her and said, “You have GOT to turn that off.” She responded that she was trying. Most cell phones have a button you can hit that will silence the phone. Maybe she was unfamiliar with the phone? Familiarity wouldn’t have been an issue if she had just turned it off before the show started.

Here’s the thing: There is an announcement at the top of the show reminding everyone to turn off their phones. It started to dawn on me, and I had this confirmed by one of the actors in the show, that in spite of the announcement, most people nowadays don’t turn them off. They put them away, or hide them, but they’re still on. The fact that they feel they can’t turn off their phones for a couple of hours for a live performance is a sad one indeed. The actors say that they can see the blue screens from the stage. So can fellow audience members.

I watched the people who were seated in our section – they were aware of the phone going off, clearly, but I realized they had now become used to this kind of thing happening. They accepted it. So, is this now going to be the norm?

It’s so disrespectful.

I found myself wishing that Patti Lupone had been there. Patti Lupone, who famously got so frustrated with an audience member’s constant texting during a performance that she reached down and took her phone away.

Here’s her quote from an interview: “We work hard onstage 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 an LED screen can be seen in the dark it ruins the performance 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 onstage anymore. Now I’m putting on my battle gear over my costume to marshal the audience as well as perform.”

Don has said much the same thing – he has experienced it over and over again. It has soured him on theater; this, after over 50 years in the theater. It obviously wasn’t an issue during my acting days, but it sure as heck is now. As it is, when I’m attending a performance or working at a performance, I have had to remind people to turn their phones off more times than I can count. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of educating someone who doesn’t realize that the actors can see the blue screen. But most of the time, it’s because that person is so tethered to the phone that he or she simply cannot turn it off. That, my friends, is an addiction.

Today: laundry, cleaning, reading – the usual.

Okay. I have to hit Publish.

Happy Sunday.