After Nude Jesse Williams Video, Theater Turns Camera on Audience

The theater that is presenting a Broadway revival of "Take Me Out" installed a new camera on Wednesday to help its security team spot surreptitious camera usage by audience members after a video of a nude scene featuring the actor Jesse Williams.

Second Stage Theater, which is producing the much-praised production, was already requiring audience members to put their phones in locked pouches before the start of the show, but decided to add the additional security measures after someone managed to film and post to social media video showing Williams, an actor best

Peter Dean, the director of production for Second Stage, said the theater's security team already had a camera view of the audience that it monitored before, during and after the play.

This will allow us to focus on an audience member who looks like they are doing something suspicious, and assess whether they are just going through a purse to get a breath mint or pulling out a phone.

He said that if security spots a forbidden phone, it will alert the house manager, and that they are having discussions about whether to stop the show or send security to remove them.

When asked what an audience member should do if they see someone filming, Dean said that they are New Yorkers. Say something if you see something.

The theater has been using the pouches to restrict phone use. When patrons arrive, they are asked to turn off their phones and put them in the locked pouch, which the patrons hold through the show and then hand back to be unlocked after it is over. The system used at some comedy shows, pop music concerts and other live events is not perfect, but some people have figured out how to open it.

The play Linda Vista was mounted by Second Stage at the Helen Hayes Theater. There were no problems with videotaping the play, which had both male and female nudity. He said that he believed that someone was able to get a naked photograph of the star of Take Me Out even though that run was before the invention of the iPhone.

Williams plays a baseball player who comes out as gay in the movie Take Me Out, written by Richard Greenberg. The current revival picked up four nominations, including one for best revival, and three for actors, including Williams, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Michael Oberholtzer. Oberholtzer is naked in some online video.

Williams discussed the nudity in the run-up to the show. He told The New York Times that he was here to do things he had never done before. It will be fine.

Williams, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment on the video release, but the incident prompted outrage from the Equity Association, the union that represents stage performers.

Kate Shindle, the union president, said in a statement that they condemn the creation and distribution of photographs and videos of their members during nude scenes. We don't agree to have those vulnerable moments widely shared by anyone who feels like sneaking a recording device into the theater.

Second Stage issued a statement saying that it is appalled that the policy has been violated and that it distributes Playbills with an insert reminding patrons that photos and videos are strictly prohibited.

The theater wanted the online videos taken down.