abusive management affects the whole company - Anonymous employee Riverside Center Employee Review

Especially on the technical and administrative side, it is few and far between that good people stay for long. Running a company requires the ability to own up to mistakes and put in the work to fix things that go wrong. Time and time again I saw mistakes from top leadership blamed on people they manage, and a disturbing pattern of higher level managers constantly having to step in (without recognition or appropriate compensation) to fix problems caused by the highest level of leadership. I frequently watched as the head of the company refused to delegate things despite having too much on his plate to handle as an individual, would fall behind as a result and set the whole company back waiting on him for decisions that needed approval to move forward, and then become irate and blame employees for being behind or any of the logistical issues caused by these setbacks. Funds were thrown at pointless expenditures (like expensive cosmetic "improvements" that patrons would not have missed and often opting for extremely expensive set elements not crucial to maintaining high production value) while nearly all employees are not compensated fairly for the amount of work they put in. On top of this, there's the verbal and emotional abuse toward managers, employees, and even some actors (yelling, long term passive aggressive behavior, trying to convince others that he never said/did something when confronted, driving managers to tears, the list goes on). I lost count of the number of coworkers who came and went while I was there, and know that that level of turnover had been the precedent for a long time before I was there. I stayed for too long hoping and trying to get things to change, and would still love to see essentially the only professional theatre in the area become a place I want to support. Sadly, as is, my advice is either don't waste your time applying, or plan on bracing yourself and finding a new job in a few months if you just want to get a professional theatre on your resume.