**Updated May 7, 2026** Another spring, another show where this has come up again! Some folks have heard DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA is “intense” and we’ve also had at least two folks directly suggest that we include a warning.

We adopted this policy a decade ago:

Jobsite does not proactively offer warnings about subject matter, as sensitivities vary from person to person. If you have any questions about content, age-appropriateness or stage effects (such as strobe lights or theatrical fog) that might have a bearing on patron comfort, please contact us by email or by social media DM.

We adopted this policy after some of our colleagues, like Chicago’s Steppenwolf (ours is lifted from theirs, specifically), struggled with similar situations. How do we contextualize our work while still leaving the door open to have it hit the way it is intended? How do we offer warnings without unnecessarily frightening folks off and respect audience members who don’t want the live experience spoiled or diminished? How do we navigate the subjective nature of personal taste or what someone deems appropriate or not for themselves, their guests, or their children? How can we account for every possible trigger without offending folks for missing theirs? It seems no one nationally really agrees on what to do or what should be done, either.

Over the years we’ve lost opportunities to bring high schools to shows (like A Clockwork Orange) we assumed to be too mature but later got complaints — this was a book they were reading in class. On the other side, we’ve had classes show up after reading something (like Fahrenheit 451) to have the adults get angry about content on stage that was in the book they read. We’ve also had experiences where a class read an edited version of a text that was made “safer” without our knowledge of that while we presented the text as-is, and assuming we were all on the same page.

We’ve set disclaimers such as “contains adult language and humor, recommended for mature audiences only” only to get nasty-grams from folks saying it should have been recommended for immature audiences only (snark!), or that they walked in knowing it would be “adult but not that adult.” 

We’ve recommended shows for mature audiences only to have parents lament the content would have been completely appropriate for their teen and they were further upset they unnecessarily paid for childcare.

We’ve simply had patrons offended by pre-show music before a play even started or because two girls shared a relatively chaste kiss in a play about murders the offended person didn’t seem to object to. 

With triggers, we tried for a while but we seemingly got more complaints when someone could point to a list of potential triggers on the website that missed others.

I truly respect there are folks who deal with trauma and that impacts the shows they choose to see. That’s very, very real. To play devil’s advocate, there’s also research that “trigger warnings” possibly exacerbate, not diminish, real trauma. I’m not exactly qualified to take a side, yet we’ve been placed in the position to do just that.

I’m reluctant to frame any experience in such a way as to make it appear universal or to otherwise possibly ruin things for others. And we’ve had too many incidents over the years where the disclaimer backfired. In fact, we get folks who write in mad about spoilers through the way a disclaimer is usually written (the warning is giving something away, which, I can see). We can’t win. 

Something I also believe to be true, paraphrasing Taylor Mac (author of HIR): we work in catharsis, something is supposed to happen to you in that room. Maybe it’s laughing until your sides hurt. Maybe it’s a revelation. Transcendence. Maybe it’s shock. Or outrage.

So we landed at caveat emptor.

We do our best to offer a thorough plot synopsis and background information on every show. It’s our hope folks will write in for more information when they see something that flags a specific concern.

We welcome questions. We’d rather have a one on one conversation. We are happy to provide specific answers to specific questions, like if a show has nudity, deals with a certain topic, contains whatever. We’re also usually happy to even help audiences borrow a copy of the script so that they can sort out first hand what is right for them, or their companions (we can’t tell you what’s ok for your kid or your mother, but you likely know).

We care, and believe we better serve everyone by not trying trying to speak for everyone at once.

Folks can also look up a play by title and playwright, then jump to the news tab of your search engine to read reviews of the play in other cities to help perhaps create a fuller picture in addition to the conversation with us.

I’m aware these are separate issues: age appropriateness, content warnings (think of the letters that pop up in front of your favorite TV shows), and trigger warnings. In terms of age policies, those are perhaps the hardest to make everyone happy with. I remember watching R-rated movies as a kid with my parents to little fanfare. I have friends now who have not shown their children films we both saw when we were far younger than they are. Everyone is different.

Do you have thoughts? Let us know. Keeping this line of communication open between both sides is important for all of us! I continue to be thankful to have this opportunity.

-dj