Term of the Moment: Brick in the Wall

brick in the wall: to ignore existence of another person in the theater.

When I worked at "Cats" on Broadway in the 1990s, there was this very dignified, very tough Italian head carpenter at the Wintergarden Theatre named Carmine. The PSM was rude to him one day, and Carmine was reported to say, “From now on, he’s another brick in the wall.” Despite all the attempts by the PSM to engage the carpenter, the man never registered on Carmine's radar again. This went on for several years until the PSM left for another job. See also: shunning.