NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR THEATRE PRODUCTION MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITY

Company Overview

THE COMPANIES

Rising Tide Theatre

Rising Tide Theatre is one of the most unique and dynamic theatre companies in the province, and it has been a vital part of the cultural and economic landscape for 45 years. Rising Tide Theatre has a rich history and legacy of artistic excellence, community engagement, and social advocacy. The theatre is renowned for its innovative and challenging productions, which push the boundaries of traditional theatre and reflect the important history and culture of our province. Our social awareness is reflected in our wide range of programming, which includes everything from classical plays to contemporary works, and community outreach projects.
Rising Tide Theatre is a theatre company that is not limited by location or convention. While the theatre company's home is its arts center in historic Trinity, it has performed in various locations throughout the province, including community centers, schools, and even the great outdoors. Its anchor production is a historical depiction of Trinity that transports the audience back in time through various scenes in the community’s landscape. Rising Tide Theatre is much more than just a theatre company – it is a cultural institution that has played a vital role in shaping the cultural identity of the province. We are looking for individuals who share our passion for the arts, and who are committed to helping us continue our legacy and further our mission.

Perchance Theatre

The province’s only professional, classical theatre company is much younger and is on the rise. With innovative productions in outdoor settings, its award-winning work is drawing audiences and artists together for unique shared experiences where the magic arises in its immersive work. This summer, our theatre company is on the move to a new home, in Conception Bay and we are looking for highly experienced people to help us build the critical path forward.

Job Description

THE INITIATIVE 

A need has been identified for experienced upper management production personnel in our provincial theatre industry; particularly the summer festivals.

Perchance Theatre and Rising Tide Theatre as part of the Arts and Culture Centre Connector Program are looking to create an incubator pilot project to provide opportunities to increase summer festival theatre production management and technical director skills in our province.

This project begins with hiring an experienced theatre Production Manager and Technical Director who would come to NL for a short site visit and do an assessment of two summer theatre festivals. From there they would work with each company in varying capacities (which can be done remotely) to help set up their summer festivals for success. These roles to include mentoring targeted existing staff and identifying the future staffing needs of each festival. These positions could roll into full time work with either of these companies over the summer and into the fall if funding allows and if amenable to all parties.

THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY

Each company is in a different position in their growth and are facing different challenges. We are hiring experienced professionals to work with us in different ways and the details are listed out below.

The positions are full time, with 35 hours/week split equally between the two companies. The work can be done remotely, with one trip to our province that will be covered by this initiative. 

The goals for Perchance are to assess the current company structure and to set up the season in this first stage. If we are successful in our stage two grant, we will have direct mentorship opportunities to offer for both production manager and technical director.

The goals for Rising Tide are to do assessments and mentor existing staff in setting up their season for success.

We are looking for experienced theatre festival professionals with an interest in fostering the growth of theatre in unusual spaces and places, who are comfortable mentoring other
professionals, and who are interested in helping develop healthy workflow that is individual to the company, place, and culture of the region.

Please see details below.

FOR RISING TIDE:

PRODUCTION MANAGER
Experienced person to share tools, resources and organizational planning with the management including the artistic director and associate, the stage managers, and other staff.
A person who can be open and flexible in laying out a strategy particular to the company, its resources, and its rural location.

Provide advice on and in some areas assist with:

• Creating production and rehearsal schedules
• Defining preferred fees/salary levels, best methods and practices for the seeking and hiring of new technical and production staff.
• Advising on budgets
• Advising on most efficient, creative and productive way to realize the set, lights, costume and building aspects of a production and budget allocations in a rural area

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR:
Experience in all aspects of technical practice including lights, set, sound and projection.
Duties:

• Assess the current technical capacity of the building and its equipment and advise on infrastructure, equipment and budgets required moving forward.
•  Advise on safety measures and best practices for maintenance.
• Advise on maximizing design/ technical impact for productions using our current structure.
• Provide resources to our staff to assist in the hiring of new staff, where to search and job descriptions.
• Advise on a system for defining roles and responsibilities of staff within the context of our budgets and our rural location for both the current operational mode and improvements for moving forward. 

FOR PERCHANCE THEATRE

PRODUCTION MANAGER:
Experienced professional to work with the AD and GM (and incoming TD) to be the production manager for the set up of our summer season and handle the following duties:

• Assess and become familiar with our budget and operations
• Make recommendations for budget allocations if necessary
• Create our production schedule based on some fixed dates
• Advising in best practices for our staffing structure
• Hiring of summer staff including contracts
• Work with AD, GM and incoming TD to devise a temporary performance space

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR:
Experienced professional to work with AD, GM, and incoming PM to assess and set up the
technical requirements for our summer season including planning for sets, props, and our
temporary performance venue.