Do you stay home to watch the game on TV? Do you use your tickets anyway?

Or, do you watch both?

It happened during an Atlanta Opera performance in the 1990s when artistic director William Fred Scott, now artist-in-residence and director of the Brenau University International Opera Center, was working with the Atlanta Opera. One of the performances happened to fall on the night of the Braves' run for the World Series, and some members of the audience just couldn't miss the game.

"There is a certain amount of respect for the performance and the piece itself," Scott said of etiquette at live performances, such as the opera. "I think you want to give your undivided attention."

Jim Hammond of the Gainesville Theater Alliance remembers a similar instance during a Braves game when theatergoers were getting updates on the score on their pagers.

Heading out to an event - whether it be a concert, the ballet, an opera or a theater production - is a special occasion. But before you head out the door, there are a few rules to follow.

At the Opera
Scott thinks everyone should experience a classical performance - even if it involves being dragged there. But even if it's not your first choice of an evening's entertainment, don't impede someone else's enjoyment of the production, he said.

Like, for example, coughing too much or unwrapping cellophane wrappers during the production.

"There you are in the finest moment of ‘Rigoletto,' let's say, and someone is going ‘wrap, wrap, wrap' next to you," Scott said. "When I started in the classical music business it was almost 35 years ago and we didn't have cell phones and there was not this problem. There are ways you can set them to vibrate."

So make sure your cell phones are turned off before you enter the theater, this goes for many events, not just the opera, and Scott said make sure you do not hum or whistle along.

"No matter how much you want to be an armchair conductor, don't conduct along. Don't tap your foot along," he said. "Make sure you don't accidently start talking about the performance ... that is what intermission is for.

"And don't bring a television."

Scott suggested doing a little bit of homework before going to an opera, especially if it's going to be sung in another language. If you know the story and the characters, he said, then it's not so daunting.

Also, don't feel the need to pull the formal attire out of the back of the closet.

"I do not believe you have to wear only white tie and tails to go to the opera," he said "You don't have to get that dressed up; I think you should be comfortable."

At the ballet

Diane Callahan said audience members can avoid being rude to the other spectators by not arriving late.
“Try to arrive on time ... and unless you have an extreme emergency, try not to go in and out while the people are actually dancing” said Callahan, the founding artistic director of the Gainesville Ballet Company.

“Don’t talk during the performance and, of course, turn off all pagers and cell phones.”

Callahan, who has run the Gainesville Ballet for more than 30 years, added that she is from the old school of thinking about etiquette at ballet performances.

“I’m in my 60s and I think you should dress nicely. I think going to the theater is special thing to do. You should not arrive in old jeans and flip-flops.

But that does not mean that you and even children can’t have fun at the ballet.

“Try to be quiet, but if they (the children) see that something is funny ... they should laugh and clap for the dancers when they see something good that they like. The dancers always like that,” she said.

“Emily Post’s Etiquette” by Peggy Post also has a few tips on minding your manners at a performance.

The book suggests that if you must leave a row during a performance, instead of returning to your seat right away, it’s best to sit or stand at the back of the hall until intermission.

At the theater

No matter the artistic director or the discipline, the same complaints rise to the top about etiquette during live performances.

Don’t bring your cell phone and certainly don’t let your “Party like a Rock Star” ringtone play in the theater.

“What we don’t like to see are any things that are personal distractions like cell phones and pagers,” said Hammond, artistic and managing director of the Gainesville Theatre Alliance. “They are horrible distractions and can take audience members around them out of the play.”

But Hammond said even though you are at the theater, you don’t have to be quiet or too formal.

“What often happens, especially when we are doing performances for young audiences, is that you will have teachers going ‘Shh, now be quiet’ and telling the children basically to shut down when in fact what we want is for them to engage in the material.

“So, I’m reluctant to tell audience members to behave. I want audience members to come to the theater with all kinds of passion and excitement for the event.”

At a rock concert

At most concerts “anything really is fair game as long as you are not breaking tables or anything crazy,” said Nick Kastner, who plays the trumpet and adds background vocals for local band Taj Motel Trio.
Taj Motel Trio is a ska/punk rock band that has seen many wild things at concerts, but Kastner’s pet peeves are pretty basic.

“The biggest thing to me (is) when people come to concerts and don’t listen to the band. They come to drink or to socialize but they don’t even listen to the band,” he said. “Why would you pay $5 or $10 and not listen to the band?”

Gainesville musician April Cummings ventures into another realm of rudeness: Drunk fans in the audience.
“As far as being on stage, probably what is most annoying is the people that are heavily intoxicated,” she said. “They are coming up to you and they are trying to talk to you in the middle of your performance or knocking over your equipment and mics. (I get) proposals from a lot of drunk people. I think that sometimes being female there are some disrespectful guys.

“There’s a difference in being flirtatious and being disrespectful.”

But when Cummings heads to a concert as a fan, she is also annoyed with too much talking.

“(When someone) is trying to talk to you constantly in the middle of a song, that is the most annoying thing,” she said. “Especially with someone that you are seeing for the first time and you are really trying to listen to their music.”