Jesse Williams was nominated for a Tony Award last month for his work in the drama “Take Me Out,” which was acclaimed for baseball and homosexual disgust. But when his name became popular on Twitter the next day, it wasn’t because of praise. Someone secretly took a video of his nude scene and posted it online.
In a recent interview, Williams, who starred in “Grey’s Anatomy,” said she was worried about the incident. “I’m here to work — I’m going to tell the truth on stage, I’ll be defenseless,” he said. But he also revealed that what happened to him wasn’t okay, saying, “It’s really dirty to put a naked photo on the internet without someone’s consensus.”
Mobile phones have long confused live performances by ringing at the wrong moments. And when people use their mobile phones to illegally shoot their work, they have offended the artists. Now, with the proliferation of smartphones with better cameras, some actors, especially celebrities, take into account the risk that what was intended as a temporary moment can go out of context and live online forever. And I’m starting to rethink whether it looks nude on stage.
“Ten years ago, the first thing that came out of my mouth was,” Is it okay to know that this is taken or photographed and has a good chance of being published on social media? “Broadway, Goldberg, a spokeswoman for television and film actors, talked about her discussions when the performer was asked to appear nude. “That’s one of the first things I bring to my clients today.”
Nude has become common on stage over the last 50 years, with major stars such as Nicole Kidman and Daniel Radcliffe performing undressed scenes on Broadway as required by the script. However, the chances of it being shot naturally are much higher. Being a Broadway royal family does not provide protection. Six Tony Award-winning Audra McDonald noticed in 2019 that someone took a picture of her in the nude scene of “Frankie and Johnny of Claire Deloon.” “It’s not cool at all,” she wrote. Tweet..
Williams’ recent video emerged despite the extraordinary steps taken by the producer of “Take Me Out”, the Second Stage Theater, to protect the privacy of the actors who look nude. Audiences must switch off the phone and place it in the locked pouch until the end of the show. Pouches made by a company called Yondr are becoming more and more popular in recent years, especially at stand-up shows, as comedians are concerned about strict protection of jokes and out-of-context things can cause blowbacks. It has become.
According to the company, the live event in April used about one million Yondr pouches, almost five times more than those used in the same month of 2019. Other shows, including nude scenes, are currently trying them out. At the end of May, the Penguins Rep Theater announced that the next Off-Broadway “Mr. Show will include a short moment of nudity.
Graham Dugoni, who founded Yondr in 2014, lamented that many are still struggling to figure out how to “put a computer in your pocket and become a human in the world.”
“Nude photography is obviously very extreme,” Dugoni said. “But a bit of comedians are out of context, repackaged and reinterpreted on social media. Not all of these enhance art forms. They’re the way people get into hedgehog mode. I will bite it. “
However, precautions are not absolutely certain. The comedy night at the Hollywood Bowl last month was supposed to be without a cell phone, but when its headliner Dave Chappelle was tackled on stage, videos came from a few people who managed to circumvent the rules. did. And earlier this spring, when Chris Rock had his first public stand-up set after Will Smith slapped him on stage at the Academy Awards, attendees at the Wilbur Theater in Boston also called him ondol. I had to put it in my pouch. They were only allowed to use them in designated spaces near the lobby. There, one ticket owner secretly requested his call because he forgot to send a text to the babysitter. video The show also appeared.
The ease of recording and uploading videos has given a pause to those who are thinking of undressing in other situations. university student Who has Re-evaluated the wisdom of traditional naked campus orchids And customs Nude beaches are increasingly on the lookout for cameras.. But that’s becoming a particular problem in theaters, and actors asked to show nudity must agree to it when signing a contract.
In an interview, Katherine Shindle, chairman of the Actor Equity Association, believed that live theater “means participation in four walls,” and “work suffers when its sacredness is compromised.” Said. Recordings from the audience “may feel like a breach, even with all the clothes on,” she said.
Shooting and photography, including nudity, requires prior written consent, union officials said.This includes all videos displayed in Movie and tape archive theater Patrick Hoffman, director and curator of the archive, which holds more than 4,400 video recordings of live theater productions at the New York Public Library, said. Most agree. However, over the years, some actors refused to record nude scenes for archiving. In some cases, investigations were conducted at their location, in other cases their work was simply not recorded. Some videos of the show featuring nudity in the archive are specially formatted for researcher viewing, but cannot be paused, rewound, or fast-forwarded.
Secret photography challenged actors who appeared naked on stage long before the iPhone debuted in 2007.
Today’s theater environment, where nudity is regularly performed in some Broadway and Metropolitan Opera works, is far from the appearance of Margo Sappington, a choreographer and cast member of the original work in 1969. I am. “Oh! Calcutta!” Characterized by a wide range of nudity, some of the arrested Indecent exposure After the performance in Los Angeles.
Even before the smartphone, cameras were a nuisance, Sappington said. So the company decided on low-tech mitigation measures. If someone finds a camera on the stage, they stop the show, break the fourth wall, and call an usher.
“Now it’s impossible to see a cell phone in a Broadway theater in the dark,” she said. “People are very rude. It surprises me.”
And the video leak featuring Williams has a very familiar feel to Daniel Sunjata, who played the same character, Darren Lemming, when “Take Me Out” was first performed on Broadway in 2003. Was there. A photo of his nude scene leaked, but it was somewhat contained before Facebook and Twitter became popular on social media.
“The main difference between now and then is amplitude. The speed and speed at which such things can be spread,” Sunjata said.
However, Leak bothered Sundiata, who thought he was challenging the nude scene from the beginning. He consulted his lawyer and said, “I wanted to roll my head.”
For Sunjata, the main difference between performing naked on stage eight times a week in front of a live audience and taking nude photos is not the permanence of the photo, but the lack of context surrounding the photo. “People who have never seen a play are just watching a naked man on stage,” he said.
The current resurrection of “Take Me Out” has taken further steps to prevent people from filming the actor. As a backup for the Yondr pouch, Second Stage Theater has installed an infrared camera with pan, tilt and zoom capabilities. This allows security personnel to see if the audience is trying to shoot a nude scene.
At last month’s performance, two theater staff were stationed in front of the theater at both ends of the stage. They stood up during the scene, including nudity. For all precautions, the phone rang 5 minutes after the first act. The crowd moaned to hear.
Williams accused him when asked if he would sign up again for a show that had to look nude. “I don’t know,” he said. “My reaction is not as hot, noisy and miserable as everyone would expect.”
Michael Paulson and Julia Jacobs contributed to the report. Sheelagh McNeill and Alain Delaqué rière contributed to the research.
