“It is not really a 10 out 12 for the designers and other technicians in the venue – Even as an assistant (Broadway level) I never worked less than 16 hours on those days. There are many uncompensated hours – there’s an implicit form of gatekeeping in there.”
“It is a turn-off to young folks from low income communities – they do not see it as a viable career to follow. $2,000 for several weeks of work? If you look at what it comes down to hourly, which I figured out by doing the math, was below minimum wage, you get paid more at Starbucks.”
“…this culture is extra hard on mothers and caretakers when there is an unspoken expectation work in excess of 16-18 hours a day during tech. That does not even account for all of the work accumulated in the process- meetings, managing email, sketches and drawings…etc.”
“How is someone going to ask to leave to go home/set time boundaries on their work to attend to their family obligations when they feel like doing so will cost them all future work?”
“As an assistant, you are especially vulnerable. On one occasion I worked 22+ hours straight with no break for three days in a row- and I mean NO break, not a meal break, not time to sleep- because there was a big “emergency” precipitated by the lead designer’s poor planning and lack of respect for equity rules. He got sleep and breaks, by the way, just not the third assistant.”
“Underpinnings of our industry are made up of this idea that we should never complain – that we feel compelled to give this free labor. And when we question it, we feel frowned upon.”
“My students are mostly BIPOC and 1st or 2nd generation, or are the first to attend college. And the culture of our business is a turn-off for them. We need more economic diversity instead of enforcing an upper middle-class hierarchy to the community.”
“We must understand how this work excludes and contributes to marginalization of BIPOC stories.”
“We should dismantle this macho culture of who can work the hardest and destroy themselves. It is unnecessary and unproductive. I’m not going to do that anymore and I’m not going to train people to do that anymore!”