These groups operate in a gray zone. Sometimes they tip off law enforcement, but other times it is more about views, shares, and notoriety than justice. Proving anything in court is messy. Still, once the footage is out there, the reputational damage is irreversible, especially for someone running a theatre company. And in Olivero’s case, the optics are not just bad. They are catastrophic.
And Boxcar is not walking into this scandal with clean hands. The San Francisco Chronicle investigated them last year for everything from bullying and harassment to wage theft and retaliation, all connected to their immersive hit The Speakeasy. Now their next big project, this fall’s haunted house show, has already been canceled. They say they are developing a new concept, but it is hard to ignore the timing.
The bigger question here is how many public black eyes the theatre community is willing to tolerate from the same company. Boxcar was founded in 2005 and built a reputation for gritty, risk-taking work. But for years now, their “edginess” has been overshadowed by toxic work culture, financial complaints, and now allegations against their highest leader that go far beyond bad management.
At some point, “the show must go on” is not enough. The community deserves better than another headline about misconduct. And the artists working under Boxcar deserve a company that is not constantly trying to claw its way out of scandal.
