Stage Combat The Podcast
Stage Combat the Podcast is a powerful and eye-opening exploration of the dark side of the entertainment industry which also asks the question: how can we make our workplaces better for everyone? Hosted by attorney/advocate/actor Sean Hayden.
In Seasons 1 and 2, Sean Hayden took the listeners into his own harrowing workplace nightmare in the style of a "true crime podcast." Now, Stage Combat the Podcast, in Season 3, is a riveting platform for entertainment workers from everywhere to come together, to share their own stories and to advocate for themselves and for change.
Claim Your Story today. Season 4 premiering Spring 2026!
Episodes
49 episodes
BONUS: "The Thanksgiving Catch-Up Episode"
Sean's back with an all-new Thanksgiving Catch Up Bonus Episode! We're catching you up on all things Stage Combat the Podcast (BIG news about Season 4?). PLUS Sean's got some choice words about Actors' Equity Association and what it did (...
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Season 3
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Episode 19
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28:19
"Walking Away From Broadway"
SEASON 3 Season Finale! Episode Eighteen. "Walking Away From Broadway"Synopsis: At the end of a season of incredible stories, Sean looks to the future and finds inspiration chatting with Bobby Steggert: an actor who experienced...
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Season 3
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Episode 18
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34:44
"The Court Watson Story Part Two"
SEASON 3 Episode Seventeen. "The Court Watson Story Part Two"(Be sure to Listen to Ep 16 First: The Court Watson Story Part One")Synopsis: Court Watson sets out to tell his story to the media and to hold his former employer...
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Season 3
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Episode 17
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38:36
"The Court Watson Story Part One"
SEASON 3 Episode Sixteen. "The Court Watson Story Part One"Synopsis: Sean investigates what happened between Tony award-winning Broadway costume designer, William Ivey Long, and college student, Court Watson, on Roanoke Island some t...
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Season 3
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Episode 16
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34:16
"Franki Takes A Bow"
SEASON 3 Episode Fifteen. "Franki Take A Bow"Synopsis: Sean investigates whether the unsafe practices of a college theatre program contributed to a young woman's tragic mental health spiral.Special Guests: Franki Mastrone, Je...
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Season 3
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Episode 15
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47:37
"Sean Has Questions for the Union"
SEASON 3 Episode Fourteen. "Sean Has Questions For The Union."Synopsis: After hearing the frustrations of listeners about the lack of action by the actors' union in many of the season's workplace stories, Sean goes looking for answer...
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Season 3
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Episode 14
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48:30
"Loving Someone Traumatized By The Industry"
SEASON 3 Episode Thirteen. "Loving Someone Traumatized By The Industry"Synopsis: Sean's investigating the mental health ripple effect that occurs when an employee is traumatized by an employer. Actor Eddie Pendergraft (the acto...
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Season 3
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Episode 13
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45:10
"The 2nd Annual Stage Combat Holiday Special!"
SEASON 3 Episode Twelve. "The 2nd Annual Stage Combat Holiday Special!"Synopsis: Sean's reuniting with some of our guests from Season 3 for the holidays to ask probing questions such as "Would you choose The Rockefeller Center Chr...
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Season 3
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Episode 12
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50:06
"Revealing Your Darkest Secret: ABC News' Matt Gutman"
SEASON 3 Episode Eleven. "Revealing Your Darkest Secret: ABC News' Matt Gutman"Synopsis: Thinking about the power of disclosing our secrets causes Sean to revisit his 2023 interview with ABC News' Chief National Correspondent Matt Gut...
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Season 3
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Episode 11
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35:53
"Another Wicked Story: Eddie"
SEASON 3 Episode Ten. "Another Wicked Story: Eddie"Synopsis: Another actor from Wicked on Broadway comes forward to tell Sean his story about the toxic work environment he experienced there and how it traumatized him for years.
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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44:53
"The 'F' Word"
SEASON 3 Episode Nine. "The 'F' Word"Synopsis: Sean investigates whether there's a problem with using the "family" word in our workplaces.Special thank you to Bret Shuford, Michael McGurk, Nicole Perry, CorBen Williams, Jeani...
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Season 3
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Episode 9
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43:42
"Putting It Out There"
SEASON 3 Episode Eight. "Putting It Out There: Your Mental Health Story On the Stage"Synopsis: Sean meets two very different performers who claimed their mental health stories by creating their own one-person solo shows: Legendary dr...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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45:12
“You’re Under Investigation: Laura's Story"
SEASON 3 Episode Seven. "You're Under Investigation: Laura' Story"Synopsis: After hearing Sean's story about the botched workplace investigation at the Goodspeed Opera House, listener Laura shares her own bonkers workplace investigat...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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49:50
"Charlie at the Crossroads"
SEASON 3 Episode Six. "Charlie At the Crossroads"Synopsis: Sean meets Charlie, a 23-year-old Boston theatre program student. Two months before his graduation, Charlie has an unfiltered conversation with Sean about his hopes, his dream...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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47:34
"Somebody's Going to Get Hurt"
SEASON 3 Episode Five. "Somebody's Going to Get Hurt"Synopsis: Sean asks whether theatre audiences actually understand the dangers that actors face when it comes to staged combat sequences on stage. And do the actors themse...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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49:31
"It's All In Your Mind(fulness)"
SEASON 3 Episode Four. "It's All In Your Mind(fulness)"Synopsis: Almost five years after his collapse from a panic attack on the Goodspeed Opera House stage, Sean looks back at his own search for mindfulness and checks in with a ...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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48:56
"Looking for Jeff"
SEASON 3 Episode Three. "Looking for Jeff"Special Double Length Episode.Synopsis: Sean undertakes a compassionate investigation into the tragic 2018 suicide death of Chicago The Musical actor Jeff Loeffelholz. Co...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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1:15:44
"How Are We All OK With This?" Part 2
SEASON 3 Episode Two. "How Are We All OK With This?" Part 2.Synopsis: Synopsis: Sean continues to explore the problem with toxic stage managers and investigates whether our jobs can physically make us sick.Content warni...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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53:00
"How Are We All OK With This?" Part 1
SEASON 3 PREMIERE! Episode One. "How Are We All OK With This?" Part 1.Synopsis: One year after telling his own podcast story of trauma while working at one of the country’s most powerful theatres, Sean explores the stories of li...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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42:54
Stage Combat the Podcast Season 3 Trailer!
Season 3 Trailer. What happens when actors stop being quiet and start speaking up? Season 3 of Stage Combat the Podcast premiering July 23rd!In 2023, Sean told his story in Season 1 and 2 (in something that sounded like a true crime p...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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7:35
The Stage Combat Holiday Special!
We’re closing out 2023 and an amazing Season 2 of Stage Combat with a holiday bang!It’s THE STAGE COMBAT HOLIDAY SPECIAL! Get your Santa mug out and fill it with hot chocolate and settle in. We’ve got an hour of holiday music and stories...
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Season 2
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Episode 17
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56:55
“You Have No Power Over Me”: Sean and Dr. Hurwitz Revisit Stage Combat
BONUS EPISODE. Sean chats with Dr. Alisa Hurwitz, the clinical psychologist who helped us all keep it together in Stage Combat's post show talk backs. As we all struggled to process Sean's story of what really happened behind the...
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Season 2
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Episode 16
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38:58
One Episode/One Listener: Pamela
BONUS EPISODE! "One Episode/One Listener: Pamela"We had an amazing idea for a podcast episode. What if you could overhear a raw, honest conversation between Sean and one listener. In one episode. Meet Pamela ...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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36:18
“Creating Stage Combat”: Sean and Ian Unpack
BONUS EPISODE! Sean and his husband Ian (yes that "Ian" from Stage Combat) recap what went into creating and writing 20 episodes of Stage Combat and how the saga of the Goodspeed impacted them as a couple. PLUS there's a mystery guest joi...
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Season 2
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Episode 14
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41:18
“No Time To Panic”: Sean Chats with ABC News’ Matt Gutman
BONUS EPISODE! Most people know ABC News' Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman as a fearless war correspondent who regularly contributes to World News Tonight with David Muir, Good Morning America, 20/20 and Nightline
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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32:18