In perhaps the boldest attempt to charge an iPhone, 19-year-old Nick Silvestri of Seaford, Long Island felt it appropriate to hop on stage during a performance of Hand to God before ushers wrangled him back to his seat.
There's an air of humor to the story, however. Silvestri's incident on Broadway included him plugging his outlet into a prop outlet. For those who still had juice in their phones, they took to recording videos and posting to social media outlets.
A video appeared on YouTube and accrued more than 140,000 hits.
The 19-year-old is a lacrosse player who hails from Nassau Community College who has since apologized for his move of ignorance, and blamed the incident on alcohol.
The teen said in a press conference, per the Daily Mail:
"Ultimately, before coming to see Hand to God, I downed a few drinks and I think that clearly impaired my judgment. Before the show started, I noticed that my phone's battery was low, and the only power outlet I saw was on stage. I didn't know the stage is considered off limits."
The article continues to say that, in keeping with the nature of the show, the move was akin to playwright Robert Askins' comedy. With a mixture of violence, swearing, brutal honesty and sexuality, Silvestri wasn't really out of step with the performance.
In the end, the actions of this unorthodox theatergoer pale in comparison to some other patrons, who in the matter of a month have destroyed the performances of Patti LuPone during Shows for Days at Lincoln Center. In one instance, LuPone had to swipe a phone out an audience member's hand for texting.
In light of it that, how criminal is Mr. Silvestri, really?
Check out the incident below.
