HAND TO GOD Set Designer Beowulf Boritt Comments on 'Cell Charging-Gate'

Unless you've been under a rock, you've by now read (and seen!) that an audience member attending a recent performance of Broadway's Hand to God successfully managed to climb on to the stage of the show's set in an attempt to charge his cell phone.

While many believe the intruder was acting on a dare, others subscribe to the theory that Tony winning set designer Beowulf Boritt (who received a Tony Award for his work on Broadway's ACT ONE), created such a realistic depiction of a church basement classroom, that the rogue theater-goer actually believed the on-stage outlet was a functioning one.

"It's not the easiest thing to go, climb on stage, it takes a concerted effort-and I do it all the time," Boritt tells Vanity Fair about the incident. "It's certainly the first time anyone has gone onto one of my sets and tried to use it as a real space."

Speaking on the realism of his set design, the Tony winner explains, "We did a lot of research as to what church basements look like. You look around a real room and there are electrical outlets, fire extinguishers, things like that."

Asked if last week's incident will have an effect of his future set designs, he jokes, "Does this give me a new standard? It'll keep me from ever putting a toilet on stage."

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Check out video of the cell-charging incident below:

Boritt's other Broadway credits include Act One (Tony Award), The Scottsboro Boys (Tony nomination), Sondheim on Sondheim, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, LoveMusik, Rock of Ages, Chaplin, Bronx Bombers, Grace, The Two and Only.

Off- Broadway credits include more than 50 shows including Little Miss Sunshine, The Last Two People on Earth, The Last Five Years, The Toxic Avenger, Miss Julie, Roundabout, MTC, Public, 2nd Stage, Vineyard, MCC, Primary Stages, The New Group. Other designs: The Seven Deadly Sins (New York City Ballet), The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Received a 2007 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence.