Physical Assault, Vomit in the Aisles, Stalking in the Streets: Why Audience Misbehavior Has Gotten Out of Hand

Playbill: When Pepper, a then-18-year-old usher at a long-running Broadway play, signed on to work in a Broadway house, it was a dream. Within a month of beginning the job, it quickly became a nightmare when a patron followed her from the theatre to the subway, verbally berating Pepper for refusing to replace a drink the patron had spilled. Eventually, Pepper had to flag down a police officer in the subway station to keep the patron from following her onto the train. She feared for her life. Pepper’s story is, regrettably, not unique.