*Prefaced by saying I love the threatre and these are just pet peeves of my own. Spoilers for the musical Rent possible*
I recently attended a production of the musical Rent. As someone who loves to attend the theatre and had been to a multitude of plays and musicals in my life, I am well versed in the art of attending the theatre. I have noticed as I attend more productions that there are a few things that people attending the theatre need to be reminded of.
I understand that you are excited. My friend and I were freaking out most of the trip to see Rent and we drove four hours. I understand the excitement, I really do. I am the one sitting there singing the songs while waiting for the show to start or quietly screaming as the lights begin to fade. The theatre is exciting and I am not saying to not be excited. But please, if the worker from the theatre is speaking into the microphone, listen to that they have to say. They are likely informing you of where the bathrooms are, how long intermission is, if food is allowed, and which door you should be going in. If you do not listen to the kind attendant and then get lost looking for the bathrooms, miss coming back from intermission, get upset when you cannot bring the drink you just bought into the theatre, or get turned away from the wrong entrance, I feel no sympathy for you. You should have calmed your excitement enough to listen to the instructions given to you.
Another thing that I understand is the line for the woman's bathroom. It is long and moves slowly and you may not have time to use the bathroom during intermission. I feel your pain. There have been many times I have held my bladder the whole production because I knew I could not get to the bathroom and back in time. I get it, I understand your frustration. There are never enough stalls and way too many women waiting to use the stalls they do have. But one thing I do not understand is standing in the while we all have been standing in and tapping your foot and sighing because it is not moving fast enough. We do not need to hear how bad you need to use the bathroom and how you're not going to make it back in time. We are all in the same line for the same thing, all need to use the bathroom badly and are worried about making it back in time. I get that the lines take too long but if you really need to that bad, rush up those stairs and to the bathroom quicker than the rest of the crowd or go use the men's bathroom as there is no one in there and no one is going to care if you do. I have used the men's room before, it is okay to do so.
I can get over those things. Maybe you were overcome with excitement and did not listen or you drank a 46oz cup of water on the way to the theatre and are about to pee your pants. But the one thing I can not get over is the people who constantly pull their phones out during a production. Yes, I am talking to you. You know who you are. They ask you to turn off your phones because in a dark theatre, one cell phone screen can be incredibly distracting to the audience or the actors. Please, for all things holy in the theatre, turn off your cell phone. If you insist on keeping your phone out, at least turn the brightness down. During Rent, I had to ask the woman next to me to put her phone away. She did for a moment but the continued to pull her phone out between every song. It was blindingly bright and just plain annoying.
One last thing I think people attending the theatre should know is that if you have never seen the production you are seeing, google it. It is not that hard. At least have some idea of that to expect. During Rent, the woman next to me (the same one as the annoying cell phone usage) was shocked when a character walked out as a trans woman. The use of curse words seemed to shock and offend the woman. And when one character pulls down her pants to moon another character, she seemed down right sickened by the show. The show is literally about a group of friends where one is bisexual, one is a lesbian, one is a trans woman, many of them fight AIDS, and swearing is done often. If an of those things offend you or are things you do not want to see, do not go see the show. It is not that hard to google the production and see what it is about.
All in all, just be courteous to those around you and please respect the art that is the theatre. The actors work hard to put on the best performance they can and they put every ounce of their energy and time into perfecting the roles they are playing. The least we could do is treat their art with respect and turn off ou cell phones.