Jay Lusteck's oppressors like to kill him. As Joseph Bouquet in the Broadway touring production of Phantom of the Opera, Lusteck has been killed by the Phantom eight times a week, every week, for the last six and a half years!! That's a grand total of 2600 times that Lusteck has died in service of show-business tyranny. The reason for this injustice: he knows too much.

Lusteck says, "My character pulls ropes and scenery in the theater, so I know about the Phantom living there. Later the Phantom uses his 'magic lasso' to kill me because I could blow his cover."

As if dying horribly night after night weren't enough, Lusteck also lives in a world of brutal neglect. The interview he gave for this article is the only media attention he's received in nearly seven years of selfless sacrifice. "I was delighted to hear I was nominated as 'most oppressed' by the management of the Phantom company. I was surprised they even knew who I was."--JUSTIN SANDERS