It has now been five years since the first outbreak of COVID-19, which, as we all know, led to a global shutdown that affected businesses and people and intensely impacted the theatrical community. It makes sense why Broadway had to close; however, it was detrimental to the livelihoods of performers and prevented people from enjoying the theater for two years. This was the longest time Broadway had been shut down since its establishment. Due to the closure of live theaters for a long time, there have been increasing cases of rowdy behavior, whether in movie theaters or live performances, and a decreasing lack of etiquette among many theatergoers.

This lack of etiquette is currently seen in movie and live theaters for many reasons. The most prominent is a lack of knowledge of how to behave, acting as an impact of two years without access to live and movie theaters. I’m aware that many people may already be aware of this. However, the behavioral effects of COVID-19, especially on the younger generations, have affected how people act within many professional environments. A lack of personal connection, as a cause of excessive use of screens to connect to people, has caused a decline in personal human connection. Because of this, many people may not feel connected to what they see on stage and screen anymore compared to previous generations. Additionally, the uptick in filmed concert movies such as Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour movie has caused various types of behavior in movie theaters that had previously never been seen before, such as people singing along to the music in the theaters, popcorn being thrown at the screen, and overall rowdiness that becomes a public nuisance.

In continuation of the discussed lack of etiquette, there have been a lot of incidents of disorderly behavior in live theaters, such as people arriving at Broadway theaters drunk or otherwise inebriated and proceeding to sing along to the songs. Other people have turned to treating their local movie theaters or live theatrical performances as concerts, pulling out their phones, turning on flashlights to certain songs, or booing people off the stage, among other behaviors. More recently, with the prominence of the Wicked movie, previous fans have gone to the theaters and have sung along to the movie. This was before movie theaters started “sing-along” screenings of the film, created for people to be able to sing with their fellow theatergoers. 

Now, I’m not here to merely discuss everything people do wrong. The important thing is to acknowledge these things and do better. While attending performances in the future, such as this year’s Wicked: For Good, it is important to do the following: pay respect to other people in the theater around us who have paid as well for the same experience, pay attention to the performers on the stage or screen rather than our performances in the audience, and, finally, practice our critical thinking. Would you like to see people treating your performance like a concert? Would you like to hear other people singing during your movie experience? These questions can form the basis of being more empathetic as we attend performances and support the arts as a community.