Literally EVERYTHING else that you could think of......
PAY-
The pay is terrible (they'll sell you on the basis that you get accomodation and food as a 'bonus' but even considering that, the pay is still poor)
WORKING HOURS/CONDITIONS-
The working hours are probably illegal (or they should be) and they're completely inhumane - think finishing at 1am after working for 14 hours and having to be up at again at 8am to do it all again and doing this 4 or 5 days in a row during show weeks. You'll get 8 days off in total the whole summer (this is way better than the counsellors get but still shocking) which is just not enough to compensate for the level of work (think heavy lifting, hours on your feet, using power tools, climbing ladders and other access equipment). There were times I actually felt it wasn't safe to be using power tools and access equipment because of how sleep deprived I was, but there's not really much of a choice because you just have to stay up and get the job done.
Multiple members of the team became seriously unwell - including stomach flu and bronchitus - from how incredibly overworked and underrested we were, and were expected to continue working. Some people have actually continued to be unwell long after we have left camp premises at the end of our contracts.
The costume team got the worst deal when it came to working hours - some of my friends in the costume team regularly got 3 hours sleep because they had such insane workloads to contend with (big musicals, etc)
EXPENSES-
Staff who have come long distance get a paltry $50 stipend for travel (for internationals, after spending hundreds of dollars on getting to NYC, and also having to pay the US embassy interview fee of $150)
TAX-
Myself and other international staff are now experiencing the joy of having to do a US tax return with no support or information from the camp, and being expected to pay $100 to use the official tax filing software. Turns out we're going to have to pay 10% federal income tax on our already extremely low earnings. There is no indication of this when you are applying.
ARTISTIC STAFF PAY-
To add insult to injury, artistic staff (that is, the directors, musical directors & choreographers) get paid THREE TIMES what technical staff are paid and are only expected to do about 1/3 of the hours and work that technical staff put in. Some artistic staff are sympathetic (if they are aware that this is the case at least), but some artistic staff are so difficult to work with that it can be hard to swallow that they are paid so much more generously and have literally zero self awareness of this fact.
LIVING CONDITIONS-
The living conditions are pretty poor - unless you are lucky, you have to share a dorm (which could be fine if you get on with your room mate, but even so, is pretty heinous), and the blinds they put on the windows are basically useless at blocking out any light. There's also no air conditioning in the bedrooms which makes sleeping at the height of the summer heat basically impossible.
FOOD-
The food is broadly fine (I'm vegetarian and the vegetarian options were often way better than the meat options, and there's a consistently available salad bar for when the main meals are uninspiring), but mealtimes are completely wacky. Lunch is at 11am most days, and dinner is at 5pm, which means that most nights I went to bed hungry unless I made myself instant noodles or some sort of other unhealthy snack (which I had to pay for myself). There's basically no staff kitchen area (aside from a single microwave) which is accessible to everyone on the tech team, and the staff social area is pretty poorly furnished too (fun fact - the furniture in there was sometimes taken away to be used as set in shows, leaving nothing in there at all)
ALCOHOL AND SOCIAL TIME-
The only place that you're allowed to consume alcohol on the whole of the site is outdoors (affectionately known as 'the beach' but it is not a beach) and sometimes is not safe to be in because of the weather (storms!) but even when we couldn't use the social area where we could drink, they wouldn't allow us to drink in the indoor social area even though this wasn't remotely accessible to the campers (which was the argument for not letting us drink anywhere else). We also couldn't drink before 10pm (camper bedtime) regardless of what time we finished work or whether we had a day off. Also the area where you are allowed to drink alcohol is sometimes an active working zone, another reason why you coulnd't use it sometimes. It was also very poorly lit (a personal pet hate)
PORTFOLIO PICTURES-
Don't bother thinking that working at Stagedoor will be a good and helpful way to get pictures for your artistic portfolio, because the quality of the camp photography is basically 0. Luckily, I didn't go to Stagedoor to get portfolio pictures, but some other people walked away extremely disappointed with what they got (or didn't get)
THE POOL-
Ahhh, the pool. We could basically never use it because it's New York State law that there had to be a lifeguard there for it to be used, and the lifeguards were basically only there for the campers to use the pool. I think I probably went in the pool about 6 times the whole summer (AND I LOVE SWIMMING)
Honestly, I had an amazing summer because the people I met were wonderful, so it's bittersweet to have to crap all over the experience, but I think it's important that people know what they're getting themselves into, especially as an international because you have to travel halfway across the world to get there. If you go there with no expectations like I did, you will have a good time. But be warned!