'Problems at The Purple Rose' - Part 3: Former employees cite violations of wage and hour regulations, OSHA and other laws

This is the third in a series of seven articles about the Purple Rose and the stories that have come out about it. Click here for Part 1. Click here for Part 2.

As more stories surface about the working environment at the Purple Rose Theater in Chelsea, a regional Equity house founded by actor Jeff Daniels, a common thread has been the relating of incidents that appear to violate U.S. employment laws, state wage, and hour laws, and OSHA requirements.

Some have risen to the level that lawsuits have been filed against the Purple Rose.

These incidents range from someone not being allowed to seek medical help, an apprentice fired for calling a suicide hotline, a fat actor not being cast in a role for a fat character because the director was concerned for his “health,” applicants being asked whether they were married and the state of their relationship, a stage manager being told she would not be hired anymore after years of working with the Purple Rose because she married an actor, refusing to allow family medical leave when an apprentice’s family member was hospitalized, a former employee threatened with retaliation if they spoke about mistreatment, and an inquiry made about a person’s sexuality that then changed how they were treated.

The artistic director routinely asked about applicant marital status

A former apprentice who wishes to remain anonymous said they were asked during their apprentice interview whether they were married.

“It was so uncomfortable,” they said. “The fact that I was married got brought up and he said, ‘How good is your marriage?’ I kind of laughed uncomfortably. Why would anyone ask that? He followed that up by saying, ‘I’m really asking. This apprenticeship is really bad for relationships. We had an apprentice that got divorced and I don’t want to deal with that.”

As the former apprentice pointed out, it is not legal to ask about someone’s marriage in an interview. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids questions on marital status and under Michigan’s Elliot-Larsen Act, marital status is a protected class.

Others have reported they were asked about their marital status in auditions.

In the letter from NachtLaw that was the first step in a lawsuit brought by apprentices against the Purple Rose, it was stated that asking apprentices their marital and relationship status was a standard interview question even though it was illegal.

Stephanie Buck had been an apprentice and afterward worked with the Purple Rose as a stage manager, eventually spending nine years there. After she married a Purple Rose resident actor, she was told that she wouldn’t be hired as a stage manager anymore because it would be better for her marriage.

Apprentice denied reasonable accommodation and fired

Kristin Stetler, an apprentice in 2011-2012, was fired after six months of the apprenticeship because, they said, they called the national suicide hotline to find resources to deal with mental health issues.

As a person with underlying mental health issues, they had earlier sought out treatment so that they could continue to give their best to the apprenticeship program. They asked whether they could take one to two hours a week to see a therapist, which they said would improve their work at the Purple Rose.

Stetler was told no, that it would be unfair to the other apprentices if they got time off and the others didn’t. Apprentice working hours were 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and they were unable to find a therapist to meet with them outside of those hours.

One night, they grabbed a box of tissues and went out to their car, and called the National Suicide hotline.

“I told them, this is what is going on with me, I need to find an alternative way to get help,” Stetler said. “My current situation won’t allow for it. They did the best they could. It’s a ridiculous ask in retrospect. I was doing the thing. I was trying to get better and protect myself and show up more in the work.”

They discussed it with their roommate because the roommate was worried. The next two days, after Stetler arrived at the Purple Rose, they threw up and went back home. On the second day out, the apprentice chief texted them and asked them to come in.

“I thought I was going to be chewed out for being sick,” Stetler said. “I walked in and they said, ‘We’re worried about you, we’re letting you go.’”

They asked if it was their work and whether the quality of their work had suffered and they were told no. Mountain then asked them if they had called the National Suicide Hotline.

Kristin Stetler

“That was the only indication and reasoning of why they were letting me go,” Stetler said. “It was more of a liability issue in their mind. My locker had been cleared out and they had called my father to escort me out of the building. He was in Jeff Daniels’ office. I was in my mid-20s, that was something they should not have legally done. At that point I felt so crazy, I thought it was me and I wanted it to be me because they would have control over it.”

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stresses that anyone who has depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other mental health conditions is protected against discrimination and harassment at work because of their conditions.

“You have workplace privacy rights, and you may have a legal right to get reasonable accommodations that can help you perform and keep your job,” they wrote in a technical assistance document in 2016. Laws protecting employees include the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.

They specifically state in the document, “It is illegal for an employer to discriminate against you simply because you have a mental health condition. This includes firing you, rejecting you for a job or promotion, or forcing you to take leave…an employer cannot rely on myths or stereotypes about your mental health condition when deciding whether you can perform a job or whether you pose a safety risk. Before an employer can reject you for a job based on your condition, it must have objective evidence that you can’t perform your job duties, or that you would create a significant safety risk, even with a reasonable accommodation.”

It further defines reasonable accommodations as altered break and work schedules (e.g., scheduling work around therapy appointments), change in supervisory methods, or specific shift assignments. It is illegal to refuse reasonable accommodations.

Fat bias kept an artist from being cast in a fat role

Aral Gribble, an Equity actor who has been highly successful in the Michigan theater community, was denied a role for a fat character because Sanville claimed to be concerned about his health. Gribble self-identifies as a fat actor. Gribble has performed in many one-person and two-person shows that required a great deal of physical activity showing he was more than capable of the demands of the job.

Under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1976 in Michigan, weight is a protected class.

Aral Gribble

The law states: “The opportunity to obtain employment, housing and other real estate, and the full and equal utilization of public accommodations, public service, and educational facilities without discrimination because of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familiar status, or marital status as prohibited by this act, is recognized and declared to be a civil right.”

Gribble described a six-week class that he took at the Purple Rose. It was there he started to notice a fat bias.

“Looking back, I can recognize that he made me run longer and do more pushups,” Gribble said. “It is important because theater is very physical. My frustration I have with his bias toward me is that if you’re looking at me and assuming that I can’t do physical work—anyone who has seen me on stage would never doubt that.”

After being part of a staged reading for a new Sherlock Holmes play, “Sherlock Holmes and Case of the Fallen Souffle,” Gribble was invited to audition for the part of a character written to be fat. He was the only person in the staged reading who was not subsequently cast for the run of the show.

“McGregor wrote this fat character and all these fat jokes,” Gribble said. “That’s the whole point of the character. As problematic as that is, well for me, that’s a clear job for Aral. When I was in Los Angeles, those were the only jobs I got which was one of the reasons I moved back home.”

Instead, the role was given to a thin actor who was put in a fat suit.

In a class with acting students after that, Sanville said that there was a great comic actor that they wrestle with hiring because they don’t think he is healthy enough to meet the demands of the Purple Rose theater. It was clear to those in the class that Sanville was referring to Gribble.

Lynn Lammers, a Michigan director, and Gribble’s wife wrote, “While Guy concern-trolls Aral about his health, Aral has done innumerable one- and two-person shows that were high energy, physical with lots of characters and costume changes. He could run circles around a lot of thin actors…And Guy knows this very well. You cannot tell someone’s health by looking at them, full stop. And to make hiring decisions based on what you perceive as someone’s health to be is ableist.”

Apprentice denied leave protected under Family Medical Leave Act

Dan Johnson, a former artist for the Purple Rose who has been working with Equity on the Purple Rose complaints, relates a story of an apprentice who was refused family medical leave as required under the Family Medical Leave Act, when his brother was hospitalized because of a car accident.

This apprentice went to Sanville and Apprentice Chief Michelle Mountain asking for time off to see his brother. Sanville denied his request, telling him he needed to tear down a set from the previous production and help build a new set.

Dan Johnson

Johnson was told the story shortly after it happened by the apprentice involved and they both decided not to file a complaint out of concern that they would face retaliation or not be believed. They were also concerned about what it would mean for the apprentice’s future working conditions. Related to their concern was that a racially charged statement was made in denying him the leave.

Other apprentices and artists report similar denials of leave whether because of illness or to attend funerals. They said that their responses were met with Sanville saying, “Theater is sacrifice.”

In the 22-page letter signed by 70 artists, several incidents having to do with labor laws were mentioned, including:

• The Artistic Director has stated multiple times in rehearsals, classes, and in public that ‘Theatre is the only industry legally allowed to discriminate on the basis of looks.’ He has also stated several times to staff and employees that while he can’t ask what would be considered illegal interview questions in auditions, he can use PRTC educational classes as a means to garner this information.

• The wage for apprentices—estimated at around $13,000 USD per apprentice/year – does not take into account the number of hours worked by apprentices per week (frequently as much as 80 hours per week).

• Several former apprentices report being scheduled to work long hours (as much as 80 hours a week, for up to and over, twelve hours at a time, with as much as a month between days off). This is while they are also expected to use and operate heavy and potentially dangerous equipment including lighting and sound equipment, and shop equipment such as table saws and drill presses.

• Several former apprentices report not receiving adequate training on the safe use of potentially dangerous equipment, not having adequate supervision while the equipment is being used, or not being provided with adequate safety equipment, including safety lines and harnesses and respirators.

Stetler said that they were required to do dangerous, physical work even after injuring their wrist. They were also told to clean up a patron’s vomit using only paper bags (which violates blood-borne pathogen OSHA rules).

Gribble points out that in many ways he is more fortunate than most because of the career he has built at other theaters and even considers himself lucky that Sanville has a fat bias.

“I didn’t end up getting trapped in that gilded cage and having to sacrifice my humanity,” Gribble said. “I know of several instances where he literally controlled or judged actors’ food choices. There are all sorts of ways he could have controlled me.”

Click here for Part 4: Theater and former artists disagree on diversity record.

If you have more you’d like to share about this and other Purple Rose stories, please contact Bridgette Redman at bredman.lsj@gmail.com