No, unpaid internships have their place, if it is truly an educational experience, and they are able to do their day to day business WITHOUT you.... And $150 a week plus housing, although not a living wage, it is not a bad internship salary.
A lot of internships are unattainable if you don't already live and learn in a major city. I will never have in internship in NYC or Chicago because I don't already live in NYC or Chicago. Not that I would want to be battling on that turf: the majority of those theatres do not pay a dime for full-time work, and would laugh as they shut the door in your face. I tried that route once. N'ermore.
I agree wholeheartedly with Matthew: unpaid internships have their place. If I am doing the job of an ASM or a PA, I should be paid. If I am sitting there and am entirely expendable to the process, don't pay me.I can even understand situations where course credit is counted as compensation. But, sadly, this is not the case in many situations.
But even in regional theatres, places where I would have to pick up and move my entire life for 3-12 months to work at, a lot of their programs are unpaid and without the offer of housing.
What this causes, from my perspective, is a lot of missed learning opportunity for those who cannot afford an unpaid (or even excessively low-paid) internship. I am not from a family that can support me going to live and work for free or free-ish for 3-12 months. This causes a gap between the number of people
wanting to take an internship at a highly reputable theatre and the number of people fiscally
able to take said position. You have to have internships to go anywhere in the business; but, in an unconventional manner, you have to buy your way into an internship. That is a messed up system.
As someone living the intern life, all of the jobs that are battled for tooth-and-nail pay $150. Housing is a massive bonus, if you are one of the lucky few. I have been lucky enough to be offered positions at companies that offer housing and a stipend. But it is really hard to live on $100 a week, even when you aren't paying for housing and utilities. I couldn't fathom doing it for free, even for the educational benefits.