The theater-goers were fidgeting and talking over each other before the curtain went up.

One even let out a primal cry before running through the aisles.

But you could forgive them if they weren't behaving with as much decorum as a crowd at Pittsburgh Public Theater or the Pittsburgh CLO.

Some were coming to their very first live theater performance -- the charming "If You Give a Pig a Pancake & Other Story Books" -- as part of the Pittsburgh International Children's Theater.

Miss Minni Drama, aka longtime Pittsburgh entertainer Barbara Russell, gave an etiquette lesson to the young crowd that included many preschoolers, toddlers and even babies, at the beginning of a recent performance at North Allegheny School District's Marshall Middle School.

Wearing a satin cape with the word "Theatricality" on it and a big hat, Miss Minni Drama looked like a character out of the show. The performer, whom parents and grandparents might remember as the comedy partner of the late Don Brockett, made the kids stop squiggling as she explained the rules of theater through rhymes.

Don't be late. Once the show has begun, the actors can't wait.

Don't get a snack attack.

Eat before you go. Rattling the papers can ruin the show.

It's almost a cliche that America has become a less polite society. Some theater companies have to remind audience members to turn off their cell phones. So how do you teach the most squirmy audience of all to sit through a theatrical production?

Many of the tiniest audience members are receptive to the rules because they don't know what to expect the first time they go to a live theater event.

"Many have never attended a performance before," said Pam Lieberman, director of the Pittsburgh International Children's Theater, part of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. "They think they are going to a movie.

"It is important that you behave differently if you go to a rock band vs. the theater," she said. "That is not something that is totally obvious."

Miss Minni Drama gives her manners talks before some performances and to school groups. But she is not a heavy-handed enforcer of theater etiquette. The children come to the performances with their parents, and her speech is just a reminder of how to act.

"It is not like I have a stick and if I hear a whisper, you are out. No, no, no, no no."

Russell also told members of the young audience to use their imaginations while they watched the show. She told hem how to cheer and shout "bravo" at the end -- something they loved practicing.