Letter: Turn Off Your Cell Phones During Theater Performances

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To the editor:

A cell phone stopped the show at Shakespeare & Company. During a particularly intense scene of Lynn Nottage's extraordinary "Intimate Apparel," the amazing actor Nehassaiu deGannes broke the fourth wall but stayed in the rage of her character. She said "Please turn off your cell phone. I can hear it vibrating, and I won't continue until you turn it off." She was scary. A woman in the front row reached into her purse and turned off her phone immediately. The play continued.

DeGannes's words changed the experience of the play for all of us, but far from enough to spoil it. I believe everyone in the audience was on her side. Let's remember that when we are asked to turn off our phones, "off" doesn’t mean vibrate. "Off" means "off."

 

Nancy Salz
Stockbridge

 

 

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Lenox Girls Basketball Earns State Sportsmanship Award

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LOWELL, Mass. — For the first time in the team's history, the Lenox Memorial High School Girls Basketball team has won the MIAA Team Sportsmanship Award.
 
In 2024, the title was awarded to only two of 300 teams in Massachusetts.
 
The school team received the award during the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Basketball State Championships held at the Tsongas Center in Lowell on March 17.
 
"This is a big win for the entire Lenox community," Lenox Principal Jeremiah Ames said. "The Sportsmanship Award recognizes not only sportsmanship on the court, but service to the community and leadership at the school, and the members of our girls basketball team have done precisely that."
 
The team competes in Division 5 of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and earned the No. 3 seed in the recently completed state tournament.
 
"The girls have worked really hard both on and off the court for this award, and I am tremendously pleased that MIAA have recognized those efforts," Lenox Athletic Director Maggie Rivers said. "Let their achievement be a message to girls in Lenox, if you have a passion for the game, step up: because anything is possible."
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