n.
A section in a theater set aside for people who want to tweet during a performance. Also: tweet seat, tweeting seating.
Example Citations:
"Tweeting is so natural for theater," said Michael Yawney, an associate professor of theater at Florida International University. ...That's one of the reasons why the Palm Beach Opera began offering tweet seats in December for a performance of "Madama Butterfly" at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach.
—Johnny Diaz, " South Florida arts lovers can tweet from their theater seats: http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-02-20/features/fl-theater-tweet-seats-20120220_1_tweeting-arts-companies-theater-seats," Florida Sun Sentinel, February 20, 2012
More and more arts troupes across the nation are setting aside "tweet seats" where patrons are invited to dish out their 140-character missives during the performance. From the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to New York's Public Theater, Twitter is stealing the spotlight.
—Karen D'Souza, " The arts meet tweets: http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_19862745," The San Jose Mercury News, January 31, 2012
Earliest Citation:
Although most theatergoers are accustomed to pre-show announcements instructing them to turn off their cell phones, the Nov. 15 performance will be an exception. Twenty-dollar Tweet Seats will be available for opera fans in a special section, where they will receive exclusive content from artistic director Ward Holmquist, who will tweet throughout the performance....
When I saw Tosca, the woman next to me was texting (during the performance), and I hated it, Luskin said. But then we thought there are people who like to do this. It s a new generation. So we thought what if we put all those people together?
—Robert Trussell, "Lyric Opera adds matinee performance of 'H.M.S. Pinafore'," The Kansas City Star, October 18, 2009
Notes:
A near miss on the earliest citation is the Guardian headline Welcome to the tweet seats: Twitter at the theatre: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/mar/13/tweet-twitter-theatre, which uses the phrase tweet seats but isn't referring directly to a special section set aside for tweeting.
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New words. 2013.