The Stage Hand Strike

I may not be popular for my opinion, but I DO NOT support the stage hands. Negotiations were to edit rules in the contract that were old & had outgrown practicality. I'm sorry they'll have to adjust to live with $100,000 a year instead of $200,000 a year, but by my math, unless they pay $5,000 a month for rent, they'll be fine.

I find it contradictory that they should waste money coming in - the last figure I heard was $17 million a day - in protesting a drop in salary. What do you say, folks? Should we take the damages out of their salary every month until it's paid off?

And what about the people who've saved up for God knows how long to finally make it to NYC from wherever & see a Broadway show?

They do a lot for the shows & deserve respect, but they're losing mine. One illusion that people who strike seem to be under is that the power is all theirs. But a show could not go on in the actors went on strike. Or the musicians. Or the choreographers. Or even the audience. It's a team effort. Everyone is extremely important & everyone works very hard & everyone gets paid what they get paid (Even the audience who enjoys rather than works has . . . a negative salary) & we can't have this kind of nonsense in a magical place like Broadway every time someone decides they're getting a raw deal - compared to what they want or compared to what they used to get. Try comparing it to the winos on the street. Or the guy whose dream is to work on Broadway but waits tables now in two different restaurants just to pay the rent.

I say the students in the theatre department of Towson University go up to NYC for a week of strenuous training & run the damn shows. So that people haven't wasted hundreds in going to New York for shows that aren't running, so that money can keep coming in while the stage hands work out their beef & so that we can gain experience, make connections, & see how professional theatre works. Because anyone committed enough & who comes in bulk numbers could ease the pain being felt by this strike. They got together to cause chaos on Broadway, I'm sure if enough people banded together they could run Broadway. It's been done.