Your Body is Not Company Property

Your Body is Not Company Property

From Assembly Guide by Alicia Newcom

December 10, 2025 · 58 min · Season 1 · Episode 9

About this episode

This episode discusses the physical demands on theatrical workers and the need for better working conditions and care for their bodies.

Many people don’t think of theatrical workers when they think of manual labor, but our jobs - as actors, stage managers, and everyone working backstage and onstage to put on a show eight times a week - are extremely physical and exceptionally repetitive, and cause inevitable wear and tear, strain, and injury. But this work breaks down our bodies and voices more than it should when our employers do not resource us and our tools (our very human bodies) appropriately. In this episode, I dig into the obligation of the employer to provide safe, sustainable working conditions and the ways management is not currently resourcing theatrical workers appropriately to maintain and care for our tools (our bodies) to do our jobs sustainably. I also sift through the thoughts we have to unlearn as theatrical workers that allow management to continue getting away with perpetuating unsafe, unsustainable working conditions. Care can look different than it currently does. We deserve to be recognized and appreciated for our humanity, not handled as if it’s an inconvenience. We deserve to be resourced appropriately. You are not a machine; you are a human with one singular body. Your body is not…

Topics covered

  • theatrical workers
  • manual labor
  • sustainable working conditions
  • employer obligations
  • body care

Keywords

  • theater
  • actors
  • stage managers
  • workplace safety
  • humanity

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