Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker was supposed to be a groundbreaking commercial ballet, celebrating jazz and the legacy of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. It featured 35 dancers and stage managers and was covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiated by AGMA. Despite months of negotiations, arbitration, and now litigation, the artists (and AGMA) are still waiting to be paid for work they completed over a year ago.
Today, Matt Wiercinski shares his experience in his own words.
When I first auditioned for Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker, I was filled with excitement. The breakdown promised performances in Pittsburgh, New York City, and Chicago, with the added potential of filming the production. Like many performers, I walked into that audition room filled with hope. The energy in the space was electric—dancers eager to showcase their talent, ready to bring a show to life.
That hope quickly turned to unease. Even before rehearsals began, I heard whispers about producer David Garfinkle’s reputation. I wanted to believe in the project. I wanted to believe in him. I should have listened to the warnings.
Within the first week of rehearsals, reality hit: the Pittsburgh run was canceled. Later, we learned there had never even been a Pittsburgh run scheduled in the first place. Then, company management abruptly walked away. I had never seen anything like it. It wasn’t just a bad sign to me; I took it as an omen.
Then came another crushing blow: our New York City performances were canceled, too. Months of work for nothing. We had poured everything into this production, pushing ourselves to exhaustion, only to be met with silence, excuses, and outright deception. And yet, Garfinkle had the audacity to talk about turning Sugar Hill into a film, all while failing to deliver the live performances we were already promised. This wasn’t honest mismanagement. This was a pattern. He dangled opportunity in front of us, using our passion against us, only to leave us with nothing.
As many readers know, despite months of negotiations, arbitration, and now litigation, we are still waiting to be paid for work we completed over a year ago. And, financially speaking, I am still paying for this experience…quite literally. The debt I accrued while working in Chicago is still weighing on me. I turned down other job opportunities to be part of this production, believing in its potential, only to be left unpaid for my work.
This horrific experience brought all of us artists together, though. Through it all, the only real transparent communication we had was from our stage management team, who are also waiting to be paid. They were the ones fighting to keep us informed, navigating a situation that was spiraling out of control. Without them, we would have been completely blindsided.
And this isn’t just about me or my castmates. It’s bigger than us. Other union members, venues, photographers, and more creatives are still waiting to be paid. This exploitation is even more enraging when you realize that Sugar Hill was meant to honor the legacies of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, yet the show’s producers lacked even the most basic historical and cultural understanding. How can you claim to celebrate Black artists while exploiting my BIPOC colleagues?
When AGMA took legal action, the producer’s response to the lawsuit was laughable: he claimed he wasn’t responsible. But he was contractually obligated to pay us. So…? This isn’t just a passion for us; this is our livelihood. For him to act as if our work doesn’t deserve compensation isn’t just disrespectful. It’s outrageous.
This experience has changed how I see this industry. As performers, we are taught to follow our dreams and to say yes to opportunity. But this is still a business. And in business, there are bad deals and bad actors. We must see them for what they are—before they take advantage of us. We need to listen even when we hear whispers of a warning. We need to talk transparently and publicly about what we go through, so others don’t experience the same thing.
On that note, to audiences, artists, venues, and anyone considering working with or supporting these producers: don’t. Simply put. We must hold producers accountable—not just for ourselves, but for the future of this industry. I truly believe that if this kind of exploitation happened in any other profession, people would be more outraged. The performing arts should be no different.
I hope this is the last time artists have to publicly fight for what they are owed. But until things change, we’ll keep fighting. We have to.
-Matt Wiercinski