Los Angeles Times

How Playbills became social media must-shares

LOS ANGELES - Uzo Aduba enters the theater minutes before a matinee of "Be More Chill." An usher directs her to her seat, she sits down and silences the ringer on her phone. But before she puts it away in her purse, she discreetly holds up her Playbill with one hand and snaps pictures.

The still-life Playbill photo shoot has become a routine scene on Broadway and beyond - a preshow ritual that has theatergoers posting photos to social media.

"I don't even know how I started doing it," the Emmy-winning "Orange Is the New Black" actress told The Times. "Maybe it was back when we were still Facebooking and in early-stage Instagram. It feels like I've just always done it."

A photo of a show's Playbill - the free program that doubles as a performing arts magazine - has become a nearly universal way to digitally commemorate an occasion of theatergoing.

Score tickets to a sold-out show after months of waiting and saving? Celebrating a special occasion with a night out? Won the production's lottery for cheap seats? As with any other

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