By Jane Han
NEW YORK — There was a time when whipping out your phone in the middle of a movie, play, ballet, or what have you, was downright rude. But oh, how times have changed. Now, theaters across America are introducing what they call “tweet seats,” encouraging guests to go social right through the show.
From theaters to symphony halls, all kinds of venues are offering these new twitter-friendly seats that enable audience members to text, tweet, Facebook and blog for one obvious reason — promotion.
“It’s not just promotion. It’s free promotion that’s in the form of the viewer experience. What more can production companies ask for?” says Linda Wells, a promoter for independent plays in New York City.
She says the new seats allow viewers to react immediately to the performance they’re watching, which means they can communicate their impressions more accurately.
“You might be amazed by an orchestra or opera, but once you go home and try to write about it, that powerful feeling you initially had may have withered way,” said Wells. “We don’t want that. We want strong first-hand comments because that’s what ultimately translates into ticket sales.”
Venues experimenting with the new concept include the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, Carolina Ballet in North Carolina, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in Ohio, to name just a few.
They are, however, careful not to bug the more traditional crowd of audience who find cell phone glare and busy thumb movements annoying.
To minimize complaints, organizers are setting aside the special seats toward the back of the room.
Regardless of these measures, some people find this idea hard to swallow.
“Theaters should either buck up and do their own marketing or trust people in the audience to talk about the show after they’ve seen it,” wrote one user on the American Theatre Magazine’s Facebook page.
Regis Kim, a 29-year-old avid playgoer, says, “It’s a disrespect not only to performers, but also to fellow audience members. Any mature person should be able to concentrate on a performance and keep their phones off for two hours.”
But Twitter addicts think otherwise.
“You keep the sound on mute and no one hears anything, so how is that interrupting the show?” says Ellen Kamal, 23, who sends more than 100 tweets a day.
Frequent users agreed, adding that people’s perception will change once the new system settles into place.