Broadway theater installs IR camera system to catch audience members trying to record nude scenes

Earlier this week, someone posted cell phone videos of Tony-nominated actor Jesse L. Williams and co-star Michael Oberholtzer that were taken during a nude scene from the play they’re in, Take Me Out. Deadline reports that Second Stage Theater, where the play is performed on Broadway, had taken steps to keep cellphones out of audience members’ hands during the play, requiring the use of Yondr pouches that are supposed lock cellphones away when someone is in a restricted area.

It’s unknown whether someone unlocked the pouch (there are many videos online claiming to show how to open the bags without the patented magnet designed to open and close them) or simply smuggled a device in.

A statement posted on the theater’s Twitter account said “Taking naked pictures of anyone without their consent is highly objectionable and can have severe legal consequences,” and called the act “a gross and unacceptable violation of trust between the actor and audience forged in the theater community.”

Now, a spokesperson for the theater told Deadline and the New York Times that it set up a new infrared camera pointed at the audience and monitored by security to see if anyone is trying to use a recording device. Second Stage director of production Peter Dean told the Times the new system adds point, tilt, and zoom capabilities to their existing measures, so they can focus on one person and see if they’re actually up to no good.

Earlier this week, someone posted cell phone videos of Tony-nominated actor Jesse L. Williams and co-star Michael Oberholtzer that were taken during a nude scene from the play they’re in, Take Me Out. Deadline reports that Second Stage Theater, where the play is performed on Broadway, had taken steps to keep cellphones out of audience members’ hands during the play, requiring the use of Yondr pouches that are supposed lock cellphones away when someone is in a restricted area.

It’s unknown whether someone unlocked the pouch (there are many videos online claiming to show how to open the bags without the patented magnet designed to open and close them) or simply smuggled a device in.

A statement posted on the theater’s Twitter account said “Taking naked pictures of anyone without their consent is highly objectionable and can have severe legal consequences,” and called the act “a gross and unacceptable violation of trust between the actor and audience forged in the theater community.”

Now, a spokesperson for the theater told Deadline and the New York Times that it set up a new infrared camera pointed at the audience and monitored by security to see if anyone is trying to use a recording device. Second Stage director of production Peter Dean told the Times the new system adds point, tilt, and zoom capabilities to their existing measures, so they can focus on one person and see if they’re actually up to no good.