No Cellphones or Clapping

A letter to The New York Times about my entrance applause article, published July 8, 2007

To the Editor:

Re ''Enter Acting, Pursued by Applause'' by Zachary Pincus-Roth [July 1]:

In addition to directors and, less so, actors, a substantial number of audience members also object to entrance applause, finding it diverting and annoying as well as obsequious and self-congratulatory. I suggest that the now ubiquitous pre-curtain admonition concerning cellphones include a request that the audience withhold all applause until conclusion of the act.

H. Richard Penn

New York, N.Y.