With cell phones causing distractions and disruptions on the Great White Way, an ambitious new business named Yondr is betting on the success of a product that has theatergoers placing their phones into locked pouches when entering the theater. The pouches will be used for the first time on Broadway next month when comedian Dave Chappelle performs at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Company founder, Graham Dugoni, first came up with the pouch to protect individual privacy, but while attending a musical festival in 2012, realized the pouch was ideal to preserve the integrity of a performance.
When phones are used inappropriately, that behavior affects others. If people use their phones to record a performance, their unauthorized recordings violate federal copyright law, which regards such filming as theft. Those who leave phones on but muted disturb their neighbors when the phone’s light comes on. And then there are those who forget to turn off their phones, which then may ring during a performance. Famously, in 2015, actress Patti LuPone snatched a phone from an audience member sending text messages during her show. She said about the incident: “When a phone goes off or when a LED screen can be seen in the dark, it ruins the experience for everyone else—the majority of the audience at that performance and the actors on stage. We work hard on stage 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.”
Blocking, jamming, or interfering with cell phone reception in Broadway theaters is not a legal option. In 2003, the New York City Council voted to override Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto of its bill banning the use of cell phones in Broadway theaters. Violators can both be fined up to $50, and removed from the venue. While the law prohibiting the use of cell phones in Broadway theaters is still effective, it is never enforced. Policemen do not patrol the aisles writing tickets to troublesome theatergoers.
Yondr has gained significant traction to date; it is now used in schools, courthouses, and various entertainment venues. The Tony Award-winning director of Hamilton, Thomas Kail, used Yondr for the improvisational hip-hop show Freestyle Love Supreme presented off-Broadway several months ago, finding that using the pouch enabled audiences to be present and more engaged in the show. Yondr may be an idea whose time has come.
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