Jeremy O. Harris, playwright for Slave Play on Broadway, took to Twitter Sunday to respond to the criticism that Rihanna has faced for texting during his show over the weekend.
“When my idol texts that she’s running late. I hold the curtain for her,” Harris wrote, referring to Rihanna. “When my idol texts me during a play I’ve written, I respond.”
People who attended the same showing as Rihanna were also able to decipher from Harris’ tweet that the show started late because of the singer. But if you thought you could shame or guilt Harris for making an exception for the “9th character in the play,” then you don’t understand the importance of waiting for Rihanna to arrive.
As for texting during the play, Harris’ defense of Rihanna’s phone use isn’t about making an exception for her, it’s about being “famously ambivalent about phone use in theatre” in general.
Talk of Rihanna’s texting has led Harris to wonder if the evolution of theater includes phone use.
But that’s another conversation for a later date.
