Stage Management Instructor – BFA and MFA Creative Producing and Management Program

The Creative Producing and Management Program in the School of Theater at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) invites applications for a full time position in Stage Management to begin in the Fall of 2019. The School of Theater is one of the foremost performance programs in the country with a specialized curriculum and a shared ethos for rigorous practical training, theoretical inquiry, hands-on production and aesthetic reflection. Dedicated to preparing the artistic leaders of the 21st century, CalArts is committed to experimental practices and approaches to training.

CalArts seeks to employ faculty who can engage our diverse communities of learners at the highest levels of artistic endeavor and critical thinking. Across the range of practitioners from artists to scholars and librarians, we welcome candidates who possess a demonstrated worldview and cultural competency to support teaching and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students of varied backgrounds, capabilities, perspectives, social identities, and gender expressions. CalArts is an equal opportunity employer.

Dedicated to the development of new voices and new forms, CalArts School of Theater is one of the preeminent theater training programs in the country. Our goal is to educate the whole person, preparing fully equipped theater artists to enter and transform the world. We particularly encourage our students to build professional experiences and relationships while in school, mining every opportunity for them to create effective careers after graduation. The CalArts Center for New Performance, the Institute’s professional producing arm, embodies our firm commitment to open exactly such possibilities for talented, ambitious students. Our educational mission is to forge a community of citizen artists who are rigorously trained in their respective métiers and who are able to work effectively and innovatively across a broad spectrum of artistic settings, media, and technologies.

The specialization in Stage Management offers training with an eye toward the future, with a curriculum and a shared ethos for rigorous practical training, theoretical inquiry, and hands-on production.

Duties:
This position includes teaching métier BFA and MFA Stage Management courses, mentoring both BFA and MFA students in their professional and artistic goals, advising students involved in Theater School projects, and being part of a collaborative faculty with cross-disciplinary impulses dedicated to fostering programmatic growth in this area. The position also includes, but is not limited to, annual recruitment duties and service on committees.

The primary emphasis for the Stage Management instructor will be the expansion of the management ability and understanding of the student manager. The instructor will lead students through a variety of methods to facilitate greater awareness of philosophies, processes, coordination, and control of theatrically based productions. The instructor will challenge, advance, and refine students’ implementation of their own aesthetics and techniques. The instructor will provide context and understanding of professional practice in the industry at large and in related fields.

Responsibilities include:
● Class preparation, classroom instruction and grading;
● Providing oversite and development of curriculum for the Stage Management Specialization in association with the Program Director and the Dean’s office;
● Oversight of Stage Management faculty in association with the Program Director and Dean’s Office;
● Student mentoring;
● Attending faculty meetings as needed throughout the year;
● Participating in students reviews each semester and providing written evaluations, mentor reports, and reviews for each of the students;
● Working with CPM faculty, the Program Director and the Dean’s office to promote and ensure programmatic relevance
● Assuming a leadership role with Performance faculty in SOT Auditions
● Assuming a leadership role with performance faculty in Showcase Production;
● Committee service
● Maintaining a professional practice
● Various other duties, as assigned by the Program Director and Dean’s Office.

Mentorship of students is the cornerstone of the CalArts School of Theater. Even though each student is assigned to one specific mentor, it is the responsibility of the faculty to advise any student in the School of Theater if they have the knowledge or expertise that the student requires. Movement faculty will be assigned both BFA and MFA students to mentor.

Qualifications:
The ideal candidate is an artist with a strong professional practice, a firm commitment to teaching, a dedication to working with a culturally, economically, and intellectually diverse community of artists, and a demonstrated skill and passion for working with theater students in both the early and advanced stages of their training.

Ideal candidates should:
● Exhibit a strong knowledge of professional practices and processes of a variety of theatrical settings and related fields, both traditional and innovative, with a vested interest in experimental and experiential practices;
● Be able to develop, define, and analyze management practices;
● Demonstrate significant professional experience and stature in the field of stage management, with expertise in several types of production;
● Have at least two or more years of teaching at the college level; and
● Possess effective leadership and organizational skills.

How to Apply:
Applications are due April 7, 2019.

Interested applicants should submit the following:
● A letter of application;
● A summary of teaching philosophy;
● A current curriculum vitae and resume; and
● A list of 3 professional references

Application materials may be mailed to Gary Kechely, Attention: Stage Management Faculty Search, CalArts School of Theater, 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355 or sent via email to theaterjobs@calarts.edu with Stage Management Faculty Search in the subject line.

CalArts has a multidisciplinary approach to its studies of the arts through six schools: Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music and Theater. CalArts encourages students to explore and recognize the complexity of the many aspects of the arts. It is supported by a distinguished faculty of practicing artists and provides its Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts students with the hands-on training and exposure necessary for an artist's growth. CalArts was founded in 1961 and opened in 1969 as the first institution of higher learning in the United States specifically for students interested in the pursuit of degrees in all areas of visual and performing arts.

https://calarts.edu/work-for-calarts/employment-listing/stage-management-instructor-bfa-and-mfa-creative-producing-and-management-program