Profile for stageleftreport

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/19/nx-s1-5707290/epstein-files-victims-interlochen-ghislaine-maxwellThought this was relevant since Interlochen has so many Broadway alum who graduated around the late 90s and early 2000s (Josh Groban, Michael Arden, Celia Keenan-Bolger among others)Also created a video on my research into the docs and his timeline around the late 90s: https://youtu.be/GuYjngExr4o?si=WYxBUeBPb9uleYz_ Interested in y’all’s thoughts

Hi all! I am searching through the new batch of Epstein documents to see if there is anything related to major players in the theater industry. Here are some of the mentions I have found so far, please tell me in the comments if there is more you have found. (This is just a research dump.)I am certainly not alleging any of these people are involved with Epstein's sex crimes, but I think it is important to review how the rich and well-connected institutions and people in our industry also inte...

FYI I’ve gotten some info from folks who have worked with these producers, saying that there are some bad actors on the defendant side working behind the scenes to bolster the claim that she has “historically been hard to work with,” so keep in mind that anyone posting this in this chat or reddit might be one of 3-5 slimy producer types with google alerts trying to Control The Narrative lmao 🤡🤡🤡

For anyone who wants more info on what’s in the court documents + allegedly what was in the contract and what was said between the two parties, i made an explainer vid on clock app — https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT6pF2FuR/there’s some great discussion happening in the comments section after digging deeper into the documents that are publicly available for this case 🫶🏻

i actually interned for one of these lead producer offices back in 19-20 and posted about it on clock app, there’s some actually great and nuanced convos happening in the comment section if anyone wants more vibes from that side of the industry lolhttps://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT6yJEH4m/

In case anyone else is looking for more details on the allegations on Scott Rudin, I did a research project after the recent New York Times puff piece, prior to this announcement: https://stageleftreport.substack.com/p/scott-rudins-comeback-some-contextThe one part of this announcement that I feel like everyone is glazing over though, is "Steppenwolf will not be producing this Broadway Transfer." This feels more like a PR/Legal buffer than an actual reflection of Steppenwolf's role, senior le...

Hi folks! I'm a NYC backstage worker and writer. I release a biweekly newsletter covering Broadway and the nonprofit theatre industry, and I'm currently working on an archival project of moments that have changed the industry over the years.I'm working on a longform archival project to document the impact of the Black Lives Matter protests and Anti-Racism Movement on the industry during the summer of 2020, archiving the good, the unexpected, and the weird/bad/backlash.I would love to know wha...

Also included some fun facts about the history + construction of the Center because I'm a nonprofit admin nerd. Enjoy + please comment anything I've forgotten! NY TIMES: Trump’s Kennedy Center Would Get $257 Million in House Republican Plan, for “necessary expenses for capital repair and restoration of the building and site,” along with $7.7 million for “operation, maintenance and security” and $7.2 million for “administrative expenses.” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/... CNN: Some ‘Les M...

I was seated DIRECTLY behind the man who got slapped/punched, literally saw his glasses fly off (and because NYC is so small, one of my friends has a friend who knows him and can confirm he made it out OK enough to post about it on his Instagram story about how crazy it was, no info past that!)It was in the middle of "gotta have a gimmick" and the juxtaposition was wild but the actors onstage obviously were troopers through it because they weren't told to do otherwise. I didn't see any house ...

Has anyone had the chance to do a deep read of the new AEA Hiring Bias and Wage Gap Report, any interesting finds? So far the coverage I've seen has basically boiled it down to 'more jobs for POC, less jobs for women', but I would love to hear if anyone data-minded has any other critical thoughts on what was released. And, how relevant 2022-2023 data is to today's landscape.https://cdn.actorsequity.org/docs/Hiring%20Bias%20and%20Wage%20Gap%20Report%20-%202022-2023.pdf

Exactly-- The downplaying and omission of key details is so insane throughout. This quote stuck out to me from the Hollywood Reporter piece in 2021--Per a knowledgeable legal source, bullying claims against Rudin never see the light of day and are settled quietly. Fear of reprisals has kept many from speaking out. Employees typically sign a non-disparagement agreement. And several sources for this piece consulted with an attorney before proceeding, even off the record.I'm navigating my own le...

Hi theatre folks!I've been running a theatre newsletter for the past couple of months, and was pretty unimpressed by the recent puff piece Michael Paulson released on Scott Rudin. For this week, I decided to quote directly from this article, and add some context from the great series of pieces that the Hollywood Reporter, multiple Rudin Collaborators, and even the NY Times himself put out about the abuse allegations.I hope this additional context is helpful for the community! Let's fight coll...

I decided to go through the article and add some annotations with direct quotes on some of the abuse allegations in the sections of the article I felt didn't dive into them adequately. I hope this is helpful for other theatre industry folks who don't want to suffer from collective amnesia like the NYTimes seems to!https://open.substack.com/pub/stageleftreport/p/scott-rudins-comeback-some-context

https://iatse.net/iatse-applauds-ny-elected-officials-for-urging-atlantic-theater-company-to-resume-good-faith-negotiations/What do we think about the state of the strike? I'm going to contact my NY state reps to urge them to stand in solidarity with the union workers, it's crazy that Management has been stalling on them this long after they voted last February to unionize.

Interested in other theatre workers' perspective on this-- I feel like so much of the coverage I have been seeing in NYTimes, Playbill, etc. on the IATSE Atlantic strikes has been focusing on the act of the 'stagehands walking out' instead of the months of stalled negotiations and Management walking away from the negotiation table. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/12/theater/atlantic-theater-stagehands-strike.htmlQuote-- "The theater issued its own statement, describing itself as “pro-union” a...