Variety: No one on Broadway wants to talk about security concerns and safety precautions — a silence that’s only amplified by the fact that high ticket prices and a largely affluent clientele make Broadway easy to overlook as a perfect storm of worry: A cluster of small, high-profile targets, right in the middle of tourist-magnet Times Square, where big-name celebrities onstage are increasingly common.
4 comments:
I am completely torn over this. On one level I agree that theaters should be completely secure and not have any opportunities to be unsafe. I take safety from attacks and weapons super seriously and having measures in place to prevent that, I am normally all for, even if that means security screening and scans. However, I don't want to have to life my live and know that in every place I walk into I have to be screened for weapons. The more ignorant part of me that wants to accept we should just trust each other and not have to constantly worry about if someone else is concealing a weapon on, them makes all the proposed measures seem like over kill. However, history has shown that theaters are a very easy target for attacks. I think the question would then become where is it not necessary to have complete security measures? Is it only Broadway that needs new security or should it be any big theater? As much as I think that we need to keep theater safe by any means, I say this now and a few years down the road, every theater, movie theater, company, store, and school is going to have the same measures.
It's so sad that this is something that we have to worry about now. Over the past couple of years it seems like terrorist attacks have spiked, almost to the point where it's something that people have to think about every day. Like Annie, I'm not really sure where I stand on this issue. I have always found it really jarring to have my bag searched before going into a theatre, and adding metal detectors or even more intense security measures would only make these feelings stronger. It really disrupts the great feeling that walking into a Broadway theatre can give me. On the other hand, I'm a firm believer that safety should always be the number one priority. Broadway shows draw huge crowds that tend to be filled with a lot of tourists who would be unfamiliar with the area. This unfamiliarity would be even more dangerous in an emergency situation. For this reason I do think that some safety measures should be in place, but I'm not really sure to what extent. Hopefully this will never be a something that becomes a problem, but unfortunately it's starting to look like this might be a reality in the future.
This is such an important issue, even though it is one I know that no one really wants to talk about. It would be a near perfect world in which our cultural venues would be safe from violence, but that is just not the truth. Safety in theaters must be addressed, though it is a tricky question to navigate. How much is too much? How little is too little? It is a great first step in having security guards checking bags, but is that all that should be done? To me, it is worth it to compromise some of the experience for the safety of everyone. Another thing to think about is the safety around the outside of the theatre as well. It makes sense how the theatre industry wants to keeps its safety measures quiet so people won’t be able to get around them, but it also leaves us, as audience members, wondering just how safe a performance can be.
I definitely think that it's better to be safe than sorry. As much as we don't like to think about the possibility and likelihood of how susceptible we are to being attacked, the possibility is still there. For example, looking back in hindsight, many places with strict security checks today seem completely reasonable if not absolutely necessary. However, we often forget that these places started off with very lenient security as well and only turned strict because something happened. My concerns for lenient security checks are not only limited to broadway/theaters. Many huge amusement/theme parks that I've visited (disney, universal, six flags, etc) all had loose security measures similar to those of broadway's when I visited. I'd rather have to go through strict security checks and be reminded of the unpleasant risk than to regret what could've been done after something does happen. Especially in places like broadway with such dense population and probably famous people, I definitely think it's worth it to increase security measures even if that means it "gives audiences one more reason to want to stay home with Netflix".
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