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Foreign. There's that music again. And it's me, Sean Hayden, with Stage Combat, the podcast. How are you, everyone? It has been a hot, hot minute since we were all together in this podcast format, and I'm really happy to be reconnecting with you right now on the microphone. You know, the last time we were together, when we dropped our last episode, that was February of this year, about 10 months ago. Why does it seem like it has been so much longer than 10 months? Well, you know why? It's because of what's been going on out there there. I mean, no one ever dreamed we would be living through what we've all been living through. I mean, we knew it would be bad. We knew it would be this bad. Well, you know, we are going to get through this together. And I'm so happy that we are together right now. We're just a couple of days from Thanksgiving. Ian and I are up in the Hudson Valley getting ready for the holiday, and I thought I would take this opportunity to let you know where I've been, what's up with Stage Combat, the podcast. And I also have some really strong thoughts about a supporting character that you have heard in many of our episodes. That's the Actors Union, Actors Equity association, and the recent ratification of the contract for Broadway. But okay, yes, where have I been? You may have noticed, or, you know, maybe you haven't noticed. I haven't really been present on social media, on camera. And the reason is I needed to take a break. I realized it had been almost three years from the day we started season one of Stage Combat. So writing that story, going into production, that was the whole Goodspeed story. And don't forget, you know, if you know the story, spoiler alert. There was also a lawsuit going on at the time that I had filed. And then I had to deal with coming public with that and going into season two. And then we went right into reimagining the podcast for season three, where we told other people's stories. We did 18 episodes last season. Most people don't realize how many episodes we did. It was a lot. So I just felt like I needed to take a step back and it was a lot personally to process a lot of the stories of trauma that we told in season three. I'm sure you felt it as well as a listener. And I needed to practice some self care. I was happy to do some therapy work. I really gotten into yoga, of all things. If you remember, I did an episode where I talked about I had a fear of yoga. And now it's actually part of my weekly self care practice and I went back to my acting class, which has been so nice in terms of a sense of community. But it's also just wonderful to practice your art in a way that has nothing to do with getting a job. So all of that's been very valuable to me. Hey, just a side note here, we want to do a little casting call for a sister podcast pilot. This is not for stage combat, but we are looking for people who have been betrayed on the job by either a coworker, a supervisor. It could even be the company itself that you work for. We're looking for people who would like to share their story of how that betrayal on the job destroyed their dreams, how it affected them emotionally, perhaps financially, and how they came out of that betrayal where they are today. If you know of someone, it could be a friend, a parent, it might even be you. We're just not looking for theater stories. We're looking for some stories out in the general workplace. And we would love to talk to you or that person. Send us an email. That's the name of this podcast, stagecombatthepodcastmail.com Tell us a little bit about your story and we'll be in touch with you and we can give you more information about the project. So, as I said, if you've been listening to this podcast, you could say one of the supporting characters in many of these episodes has been a labor union called Actors Equity Association. They were in my personal story when we talked about the Goodspeed Opera House and they actually did something good. They came forward on my behalf against my employer. But we heard a lot of stories in season three where people felt like that did not happen for them. And what happened in season three was the communications department from Actors Equity reached out to us and said, hey, can we come on your show and talk about what we are trying to do to prevent harassment and bullying of our members in the workplace? And we said, sure. And it was a really positive experience. And also last May, at Equity's request, I was really thrilled to create and I moderated a really successful mental health panel with four mental health professionals. You've heard on this podcast. There was Dr. Michelle Sherman, Imari Harden, Bobby Stegert, Dr. Elisa Hurwitz. And we put forward ideas for the members on Equity's platform about mental health and actions that could be taken by our industry. So Actors Equity has been in the news in the last month. About a month ago, Broadway was on the precipice of a strike. It was going to shut down because the production contract, that's the contract for Broadway. Just remember Equity is a series of contracts for different theaters. Every level of theater has a different contract. But Broadway is the top tier one. It was about to expire. The Broadway contract is a three year contract that is renegotiated every three years with the Broadway League, with the Producers. But the strike was was averted. Hey, great news for everyone. Well, why is this contract so important? Well, like I said, it's the top tier contract. And anything that gets into this contract many times will get filtered down into the other contracts, whether it's off off Broadway, Lort theater, small theater. So if you get a win in the production contract, there's precedent for arguing to get that into the lower tier contracts. Here is a fun fact about this contract. There's 51,000 members in Actors Equity. But the only people who could vote for this contract to ratify it are those who have worked on Broadway since 2019. So we ran the numbers. That means out of those 51,000 people there were 3,268 eligible voters and only 45% of those vote. This contract passed by a sliver of the total membership of Equity to that was 1,032 people out of those 51,000 people. So what did the contract do? The big sticking point was health insurance. It was going to run a deficit in May of 2026. So equity needed producers to contribute more just to keep that at the status quo. There was a 3% pay increase. There were some better provisions about how many successive days members could be required to work to perform. Provisions for increased physical therapy. Remember that? Physical therapy? We're going to talk about that later. And here's an odd one. You know when you go to the theater and you open up your playbill and there's an insert and it says, you know, the lead is going to be played by the understudy. Those are gone. And now you're going to get a QR code to use your phone, which I didn't think we were supposed to have our phones out and open in the theater. But so that's been done to save the producers money. So what we started hearing was a lot of people weren't happy with this contract. And here's a couple of comments we saw on Equity's social media. This member says despite the fact Equity is trying to gaslight its members into believing this is a win, it's unfortunately not. You hyped up your members at the start of this negotiation and made Them believe really real change was coming. Not 3% salary increases, which doesn't even cover inflation. Not using the entire bargaining capital to get the Broadway League to pay their almost fair share of a health cover inflation. We were ready for a revolution and you gave us the same old BS we always get, which we're used to. But don't lie to our faces and say you're really going to fight this time. Here's another member. Can we not glorify the bare minimum? Can we talk about how if we don't make noise, things will will remain the same? There is so much more work to be done. We caved in. And finally another member. Instead of stepping into your power, you gave it away and bent the knee. Meanwhile, your union members are going to continue to suffer for years to come. New leadership is needed. And we had questions in particular about whether this contract addressed mental health. Right. Because we've been talking about that for a couple of years on this podcast and we've been talking about this for over two years with people inside Equity about actions they could take. Could they get into contracts that in addition to guaranteeing the performer's physical safety, that employers must provide a work environment that protects the artist's emotional safety? I really believe that's the cornerstone to get things started. We've also been advocating for any kind of mental health support person to be put on the production team. And don't tell me, hey, there's mental health and insurance. Not everyone has insurance and we're talking about what's present on the job. We told the tragic story of Chicago the Musical actor Jeff Lofelholz, who unfortunately took his life because he had been bullied. And we brought in a mental health professional in that episode to talk about the need to have mental health support not only for our performing artists, but the cast and crew on the production team and how that could avert a crisis. And you heard story after story of the mental health toll that has happened to artists when they've been abused in the workplace. Eddie from Wicked, Brett from Wicked, Brad from Jersey Boys. And even in my own story, we brought in several experts saying that if there had been some sort of mental health support, it could not only help a performer, but it might also save a life. And along the way, we've been suggesting to Equity ways to get producers to train their employees in mental health literacy. So you can't say panic attacks aren't real. That might sound familiar to you. We've been trying to find a way to get Equity to send out recommendations to producers of ways to support mental health. We've suggested a peer support program for the members in the union as a mental health resource. We've suggested implementing studies with the producers and with our members to measure what's going on out there with regard to mental health. We even suggested come up with a PR campaign from the union to put the industry on notice that mental health is a priority. Well, anyway, back to the contract. I wanted some answers if there's anything in there that could be useful to our members with regard to mental health. So I thought, hey, let's reach out to the communications department, right? They were so great with us before when they asked to come on our podcast. And do you know what the response was that we got? We are not discussing the details of the contract with the media. What? You're literally the communications department, but you don't want to discuss the contract? If this contract is so good for its members, why won't you talk about it? So the department gave us email addresses for the three chairs of the negotiating team. So we sent emails to them asking them about the contract, any mental health provisions. We did not hear back from them. Okay. So I said, you know what? I'm just going to go right to the executive director. He's a very nice man named Al Vincent. Sent him an email, asked the communications department, hey, do I have his email right? They said, yeah, you do. Didn't hear back from him. I said, well, screw this. I'm going to go right to our president. We have a celebrity president, Brooke Shields. You've heard of her? I emailed her. No response. What's going on? I mean, seriously, what is going on? So I got some inside information. I spoke to someone who was on the negotiating team for Equity. And do you know what this person told me? Do you know how many mental health proposals were put on the table to the Broadway League during negotiations? Zero. Not one. And I was also told that internally within Actors Equity, that the negotiating committee, there were proposals put on the table for that committee to vote on mental health proposals with the idea of taking these to the Broadway League in negotiations. And they were all voted down. And the reason that was given that they were voted down was, we will never get it. We will never get it. How do you get something if you never ask for it? Sure, you might not get at this contract, but this contract's coming up for renewal in another three years. You have to start this discussion someplace. So guess what? Now you've lost three years, because, you know, maybe you'll wake up in three years. I don't know, maybe you'll wake up in three years and bring it up then. But guess what, you not going to get it then. You're going to wait another three years. So now we're talking six years down the line for the next kid on Broadway to have some sort of protection, some sort of mental health support on the job. I'm going to say something that's controversial and you may not agree with me, and I do want to preface it by this. I want to say there's a lot of good people working inside of Actors Equity. But I would submit to you that for this union, the mental health of its members is not a priority. And that for the leadership of this union, the mental health of its members is not a priority. I mean, judge us by our actions right now. I do want to point out the union has done something I suggested. There's some good people in the diversity inclusion department. They have put out a mental health toolkit of resources, places you can call if you need mental health. But right now Equity doesn't even have a dedicated committee for mental health. You would not believe how many committees this union has for public policy, for communities, for member education, for every possible contract. There's even one committee that is devoted specifically, and I quote, to the preservation of the history of the union. But they've got nothing for mental health. You know what? Actually we need more than a committee. We actually need a task force that will issue a study that will get the input of the members. How about asking us about it? How about asking us what we want? And that will come up with a 10 year plan of what the union is going to accomplish with regard to mental health. But for right now, I think we have to have clear eyes and realize we cannot depend on our union. We will never stop asking for these things, but we need to start taking action. That has nothing to do with our union. What we need to do is we need to form a coalition and we need to go directly to the industry. Because right now I have no confidence that our union is going to do anything for us on our behalf. We need to come up with a coalition of healthcare professionals, mental health workers, of artists, of producers, and we need to go directly to theaters, make recommendations, the same ones I've been trying to get Equity to put into effect. We need to go to theaters and say, hey, you've got this show on your season. Would you consider making sure that your team has literacy on mental health? Or could you bring in someone that can be a consultant on mental health for the cast and crew, given the subject matter of the show that you're doing, or you know what, if you can't provide it to the whole cast? Well, you're doing west side Story. How about for the actor playing Anita who is going to undergo the trauma of an assault scene eight times a week? How about for her? Or maybe in your rehearsals, you could put into place these special measures because of the extreme emotional demands that this particular show requires of your actors. There are so many things that can be done in the workplace, and then we need to start publicizing that as an example to other theaters. We need to bring in the local press to do local stories about how we brought in people and that a different approach was taken with this show by this theater for Mental health. And then we go to the next theater and we do the same thing and we go to the next theater, bring in the press, keep going to the next one, and finally, finally, the industry will catch up. Maybe Actors Equity will catch up and actually be more in tune with what corporate America has been doing for some time with mental health more in tune with what sports teams are doing. What do you always hear about actors, and particularly Broadway actors, But it's all actors. That actors are athletes. Most of you all know that. I am also a lawyer, and one of my clients is the Major League Baseball Players Association. That's the labor union for baseball players. So guess what? They have physical therapy. Like Equity provides actors with physical therapy. But guess what? The baseball players get mental health support in addition to their physical therapy. Actors get physical therapy, but no mental health support. Okay, then, so if you've got some ideas about helping me build that coalition, reach out to us. Let's start talking. Email me at stagecombatthepodcastmail.com stagecombatthepodcastmail.Com all right, that is my rant about that. But we do have a lot of work to do. Okay, Onto better things. Everyone is asking me, is there going to be a season four? And I'll be honest with you, when I finished episode 18 of this last season, I thought, you know what? I'm good. We did a good job. We raised awareness in the community. We caught the ear of Actors Equity. And I was really proud of how we transitioned from one personal story to the stories of many people. And I said, there's not going to be a season four. I changed my mind. I changed my mind because of what's going on with Equity, because apparently we're not being loud enough. And I changed my mind. Because of meeting people like you out in public that have let me know what the podcast has meant to you and that you're grateful to have a platform like this where there are so few like this. So is there a season four? Hell yeah, there's going to be a season four. Because I've. I've got a few more things to say. So we are currently in production on some episodes. We have a few other ideas we're still exploring and maybe you could help us with them as either as a guest or providing us with some background information off the record, or even being featured in a voice note anonymously. You can also appear as a guest anonymously. We did that with an episode in season three called you're under investigation, Laura's Story. So there are definitely ways to do this in a way that you're comfortable with. So let's go down this short list. And I want to say these ideas may not actually become episodes. They're just ideas we're exploring right now. If you have worked at the Disney Parks, Disney World, Disneyland, and you feel like you were not able to earn a livable wage or that the Disney Corporation treated you like a number, let us hear from you. Cruise ships. We have a lot of employees of cruise ships that listen to this podcast. If you've been mistreated by your employer while working on the ship or you found there are mental health challenges due to the isolation of working on a ship, let us hear from you. If you have opinions about producer Scott Rudin returning to Broadway. He was a producer who was forced out of Broadway in 2021 because of allegations about really extreme toxic workplace behavior. Go back and read the Hollywood Reporter article about this. It will take your breath away. But Rudin's back currently on Broadway with a Samuel Hunter play, Little Bear Ridge Road. If you have opinions about that, we'd like to hear from you. If you've worked for him in the past or if you're working for him right now, we'd like to hear from you. Sunset Boulevard on Broadway. Do you remember the Nicole Scherzinger controversy that happened about a month before Election Day last year? If you were part of the cast and crew at that time, we would like to talk to you. And again, you can remain anonymous. The Queen of Versailles on Broadway. Boy, this show seems to have a lot of baggage, doesn't it? We would like to talk to you. If you are not happy about things you are seeing or people who are working with a production, please let us hear from you. If you work in Hollywood and you feel like your career has not recovered from the strikes of 2023, the SAG AFTRA actors strike or the writer skills strike, and you're still really struggling. We would like to hear your story. If you've worked for a film or a TV set or a theater where mental health was made a priority. Wow, imagine that. We would love to hear about your experience. And finally, you know what we love and admire so much. I'm sure you do, too. Actor Laura Benanti. She's been a great advocate for artists speaking up for themselves. She had her own experience where she literally broke her neck on Broadway doing a pratfall that she didn't feel comfortable doing. And we would love to have Laura as a guest on our show, but we don't know her. So maybe you could introduce us to her, let her know what a great podcast this is. And we just think our listeners would love to hear her on Stage Combat. If you can contribute to any of these ideas, email us@stagecombatthepodcastmail.com we're in production right now and our plan is to release all new episodes in the spring. Oh yeah, a lot of people ask me, how can we support you? Well, I'm going to tell you. First of all, follow us on Instagram stagecombatthepodcast.ig 2. Leave us a review on your platform. Particularly we love Apple podcast reviews. Leave us five stars. Tell everyone what the podcast means to you. 3. You can support us at Patreon. There's a link in the show notes and for just $5 a month, we have a whole library bonus content that we Created for Season 3. Bonus content on the episodes. We created an acting podcast with my buddy Chris Webb from Boston Conservatory called Just Acting and a mental health podcast called the Mental Health Pod. All of those episodes are available. I'll also be providing updates on the making of season four, and then we'll have bonus content for season four. And the cool thing is there's no commitment. You can hop on for a month, listen to what you want, help us out for two months. You know, come back, leave, come back whenever you want. And away from Patreon. Did you know you can also underwrite an episode starting at just $500? If you're a business or a very generous person, we would be happy to have you underwrite an episode of Stage Combat. You can do that anonymously or we can feature you as an underwriter in the episode and also on our social media and give you the recognition you deserve for supporting meaningful content. Just drop us an email@stagecombatthepodcastmail.com well, I covered a lot more than I thought I would. I thought I was going to hop on here for 10 minutes, but you all got me talking. But I'm so glad we talked about these things. They are very important and I'm so glad that we were able to connect. So we're just a few days from Thanksgiving, and I'll close this out by saying I've been thinking about what I'm thankful for, and I believe that I'm most thankful for for the fact that I haven't let the chaos and the trauma that this administration is inflicting upon all of us on a daily basis. I haven't let that change me. And I mean, yes, I'm looking at things with clear eyes and part of me thinks the country will never be the same again. But I haven't let it change my values and what I believe in. And I'm not going to let it stop me from advocating for change. I'm not going to stop working for workplaces that are safe, dignified and respectful. And I'm also grateful to you. No, I really mean that. Stage Combat has been quite a journey for me and it's been even more fulfilling because of the community and that we created together that you made possible. So I'm going to wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Thanksgiving and a safe, peaceful holiday season. And I hope today and every day brings you an opportunity to claim your story. Bye, everyone. Foreign. This episode was edited and mixed by Alex Griffith, and you can hear more of this conversation over at Patreon, where I have a few more opinions about the leadership of Brooke Shields as president of Actors Equity Association. Just follow the link in the show notes. Stage Combat the podcast is a production of Heywood Productions, llc.