LuPone takes patron’s phone during performance

Patti LuPone has provided theater fans with another reminder that she has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to cellphone use during live performances.

The stage star has been known to call out audience members for using their phones during shows, sometimes going as far as to bring a performance to a halt in order to berate the offender. On Wednesday evening, LuPone the Enforcer struck again during a performance of the Douglas Carter Beane play “Shows for Days” in New York.

LuPone confiscated the phone of an audience member during a performance of the comedic play, which is running at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, a spokesman for Lincoln Center Theater confirmed to The Times.

The incident took place near the end of the scene when LuPone’s character, a larger-than-life head of a community playhouse, usually shakes the hand of an audience member seated in the front row of the theater.

“Last night, Patti noticed that the woman sitting in that seat was on her phone. As she exited, instead of shaking her hand, as she normally would, Patti took the phone out of the woman’s hands,” the spokesman said.

The phone was later returned by the theater’s house manager after the performance.

In 2009, LuPone famously halted a Broadway performance of the musical “Gypsy” to yell at an audience member who reportedly was using a phone to take photos. The incident was captured on video and later posted to YouTube.