The Broadway theater where Jesse Williams’s nude scene was leaked is enhancing its security system.
via People:
PEOPLE can confirm that the Helen Hayes Theater, home to the Take Me Out revival, has installed a new infrared camera system facing the audience so that the venue’s security team can monitor any would-be phone users during the show.
The update comes after an attendee illicitly recorded and posted nude footage of Williams, 40, to Twitter on Monday, the same day the Grey’s Anatomy alum was nominated for a Tony Award for his role as gay baseball player in the Richard Greenberg play. Much of the Tony Award-winning piece is set in a locker room, and the actors go full-frontal during a shower scene.
The New York Times reported that the detection system was installed Wednesday, and violators may be asked to leave the theater or delete any surreptitious footage. Peter Dean, director of production for Second Stage, said organizers were considering whether or not the show should be stopped if a phone is detected in the crowd.
“This will allow us to focus on an audience member who looks like they’re doing something suspicious, and assess whether they’re just going through a purse to get a breath mint or pulling out a phone,” Dean told the paper.
Second Stage Theater, who is producing the play, responded to the video leak in a Tuesday statement, stressing that attendees were aware of the theater company’s “phone-free” policy, with “locked phone cases at all performances” for Take Me Out.
It remains unclear if the offender got their phone out of the locked case, or managed to sneak it into the show.
“We are appalled that this policy has been violated and unauthorized footage of our acting company has been posted. It is deeply unfortunate that one audience member chose to disrespect the production, their fellow audience members and, most importantly, the cast in this manner. Taking naked pictures of anyone without their consent is highly objectionable and can have severe legal consequences,” the statement said.
“Posting it on the internet is a gross and unacceptable violation of trust between the actor and audience forged in the theatre community.”
Second Stage added that it was expanding its staff to help enforce the phone policy, and was working to get the posts of Williams pulled from the web.
The Actors’ Equity Association also denounced the audience member who defied the rules protecting the safe space of the theater setting.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the creation and distribution of photographs and videos of our members during a nude scene,” Kate Shindle, president of Actors’ Equity Association, said in a statement. “As actors, we regularly agree to be vulnerable onstage in order to tell difficult and challenging stories. This does not mean that we agree to have those vulnerable moments widely shared by anyone who feels like sneaking a recording device into the theater.”
While appearing on Watch What Happens Live Monday, Williams spoke about the situation with host Andy Cohen.
When asked by Cohen about stripping down in front of an audience every night, the actor replied: “Everyone around me [was] going, ‘Are you serious? Are you sure? Nude, nude? Naked?’ And everybody makes such a big deal. It’s a body. Once you see it, you realize, whatever. It’s a body. I just have to not make it that big of a deal.”
Williams has made no further comment regarding the nude leak on his social media accounts.
It’s too late now.
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