Growing up going to the theater, nothing grinds my gears more than sitting near someone who doesn’t know how to act while watching a play or musical. Etiquette is becoming a lost art and, as a result, making it increasingly annoying to attend shows.

No matter if you’re at a high school auditorium or a Broadway Theatre, etiquette is a necessity.

There are a lot of things that should be common sense when it comes to being courteous to the other theater-goers. The two most on-the-nose ones are: Don’t talk during the show and stay off your phone during the show.

Look, even I whisper over to whoever I’m with periodically during a show, but I make sure it’s quiet enough so I’m not bothering anyone around me. I should not be hearing full-blown conversations during a scene change or worse, during a music number.

Talking or being distracting at any point during a theater performance, even if it is a scene change or blackout, can ruin the experience for those around you. When you attend a performance, it’s the actor’s job to immerse you in the show’s world. 

However, when Kathy decides to get up in the middle of a scene, or do anything else mildly distracting, it’s human nature for our eyes to be drawn to that instead of the people on the stage, taking you out of the scene and the world you paid for. 

If you have to get up or if you, for some reason, get to the show late, at least wait until there’s a blackout or a scene change so you’re not disrupting the action. While people moving around at any point of a show is annoying, it’s better to do it during a part of the show when nothing is happening on the stage so those around you don’t miss anything. 

While not being loud and disruptive is important, being on time is equally important. If your seats are in the middle of a row, getting to the show during the overture or as the lights go down is extremely inconsiderate to those you have to crawl over. If you sit in the back of the theater, it’s not awful, but if you’re walking in front of people, squeezing past those who got there on time, you’re obstructing the view for everyone behind you. 

If you bring flowers, put them down before the show and don’t touch them until you’re ready to leave. Those plastic bags that hold the flowers are loud and irritating. 

The same goes for any candy or food you bring. Don’t open a bag during the show. Open any packages beforehand and, please, don’t rustle the plastic. 

If you want to cheer or clap, do it after a song ends or during a scene change. Do not cheer or clap in the middle of a scene where dialogue happens right after. If you do, you’ll miss what the actors say next, which could be crucial to the plot or even funnier than what you just hollered at. 

There’s an obvious pattern to all of these: Don’t be distracting during the performance. Everyone there wants to have a good time seeing the show, and if you’re moving around, talking, or being disruptive in any sort of way, you’re ruining someone else’s experience. 

You wouldn’t want someone doing that to you, would you?

Categories: Life