Ringing cellphones and texting audience members are the scourge of theater today, inspiring performers from Patti LuPone to Benedict Cumberbatch to take dramatic action. In July, Ms. LuPone confiscated a phone from an unrepentant texter, saying later in a statement: “I am so defeated by this issue that I seriously question whether I want to work on stage anymore.”

But performing artists across genres say the situation can be just as bad offstage, where cellphones are increasingly intruding on rehearsals, auditions and backstage culture.

“I’ve had to scream at dancers in rehearsal,” said choreographer Anthony Rue II, who has worked with major pop singers and their tour dancers. “The moment they have a second to breathe, they run to their phone. It takes them four or five minutes to mentally get back.”

A phone’s siren song can call at almost every part of the creative process, even auditions.

Opera singer Jennifer Rowley, who performs at the Metropolitan Opera and London’s Covent Garden, said she once auditioned for a director who, exasperated by her chosen song, started out barely paying attention.