19. 8/10-From an Anonymous Former Staff Member

As a former employee at Stage Right, I both witness and experience emotional abuse. I would often clock in 70-75 hours a week and was still told that I was not doing enough for the company. During tech week of one of the professional shows, I had been at set building all day without anything to eat. At 5pm, I finally sat down to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (the first thing I had eaten in over 24 hours after heavy lifting set pieces and smelling paint fumes all day). When the Artistic Director came in, I was screamed at because he had touched wet paint and if I hadn't been "stuffing my face" things would have been getting done.

Also during this particular show, we had a "special guest" working on the show that was friends with the Artistic Director. Both men being in their 40s were making explicit comments about a girl in the cast that was only 15 at the time.

My job was threatened by one of the founders, simply because she and General Manager just didn't like me as much as the last person that held my position. I was put on probation and would be let go if I didn't start acting like the former stage manager and get along with them better.

For the record, I worked for this company for a full year and I was never once told by upper management that I needed to get my clearances.