Tuesday night’s performance of To Kill a Mockingbird was cut short by a wave of panic that swept Times Square after a motorcycle backfire was confused for a gunshot. Deadline reports that frightened pedestrians fleeing what they thought was a shooting attempted to storm their way into the Shubert Theatre during the performance. Then, as cast member Gideon Glick wrote on Twitter, “[t]he audience started screaming and the cast fled the stage.” Police were able to calm the scene within five minutes, according to reports, but theatergoers were still shaken by the event. “Crouched on the floor of the Shubert Theatre during an astounding performance of Mockingbird fearing for my life,” Greenleaf’s Merle Dandridge wrote on Twitter. “This is our world now. Open panic and ready for life shots. I’m still shaking and scared for our country.”
