Avoid Working with David Petro/Broadway Break Thru

Last December, I wrote a piece on the fact that Broadway Break Thru and its founder David Petro, had not paid its guest faculty for their work during their summer college programs.

Some of the guest faculty hadn’t been paid a dime despite some of them being owed upwards to $1,000.

After publishing the article, I had heard that Petro promised(in writing) that he would pay all monies owed by February 28th. I’ve been told by various faculty, that he hasn’t sent them a dime.

To make matters worse, he’s basically gone into hiding. Multiple attempts to contact him have failed yet he is still collecting funds for his annual summer college event. Even worse, he’s still trying to each out to schools to get their students to sign up and pay for master classes as evidenced by an email that was forwarded to me.

In response, a group of the unpaid guest faculty have put out the following statement.

I have also heard from students who had already paid their registration in full for the summer program and have heard nothing from Petro. Tuition for the event is as high as $2,000.

As I said in the previous pieces on Petro, if Broadway Break Thru is planning on using funds raised from College Break Thru 2019 to pay guest faculty members for College Break Thru 2018, how are the guest faculty from College Break Thru 2019 going to be paid? Or when? From College Break Thru 2020? Some would call that a Ponzi scheme.

Also, if there are serious concerns or issues surrounding this summer’s event, why is Petro still collecting money from students? And if it’s not going to the guest faculty who are owed, where is it going?

I’ve been told that authorities have been contacted. I would advise any performer who is approached by Petro, to avoid at all costs.

This is a shame because there are some many great summer theatre programs and training companies. It’s my hope that people will avoid working with David Petro and instead attend the great many other reputable programs out there. If you need any help locating some, we’d be more than happy to help.