Director, Playwrights Horizons Theater School

Job Summary:
Provide artistic and strategic vision, curricular development, educational guidance and institutional stability to Playwrights Horizons Theater School in alignment with the mission of Playwrights Horizons. Through dynamic and high visibility leadership, create an atmosphere of learning and collaboration that demands the highest artistic and academic standards from both students and faculty. Responsible for financial planning and oversight for the theater training program. Be the principal liaison between the School and the NYU/Tisch University Department of Drama.

Goals and objectives:

• Develop and meet all academic, artistic, fiscal and administrative goals of the theater training program.
• Focus the academic and artistic goals of the school to meet the highest standards of NYU and PHTS.
• Create and nurture institutional growth through the exploration of new and innovative programmatic possibilities. Implement creative and collaborative techniques that encourage new administrative, curricular, and developmental models.
• Guide the school in creating, implementing and achieving short- and long- term programmatic and fiscal strategic goals.
• Build and foster a vital and creative community for faculty and students.
• Represent the school to both its internal and external communities. Manage relationships with NYU and external theatrical and artistic communities.
• Serve as central contact for school-wide matters, concerns, events and programming.
• Manage conflict resolution among faculty, staff, and students.
• Report to NYU, PHTS Administration and The Playwrights Board of Trustees on school initiatives, curricular goals and fiscal matters.

Responsibilities:
Playwrights Horizons Theater Administration

• Facilitate and foster a strong working relationship with the Executive and Artistic Directors, Board of Directors and Administration of PHTS.
• Devise and explore new mutually beneficial creative and financial strategies; participate in long-term and strategic planning initiatives.
• Establish and oversee PHTS budget.
• Direct and supervise PHTS administrative team.
• Assume responsibility for all contract obligations with NYU.

New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, Undergraduate Drama Professional Training Program Department of Drama Administration:

• Serve as a liaison between NYU Tisch Department of Drama, students and faculty/administration.
• Assure that contractual obligations are being met.
• Participate with Department of Drama Chair to identify and define required professional training classes, course prerequisites and classifications.
• Attend all NYU Studio Heads and Faculty meetings and all Department of Drama retreats, ceremonies and special events.
• Participate in the Artistic Review process, an assessment component of the annual application cycle.

Faculty:

• Lead faculty in program development and curricular goals.
• Seek out and develop new and innovative professional training models.
• Recruit, train and mentor faculty.
• Follow PHTS HR protocol when addressing issues with PHTS faculty members
• Oversee the following areas: faculty communications, syllabi and course development, enrollment, schedules, faculty meetings, academic calendars, and registration.

Students:

• Counsel and mentor students on their academic and artistic goals.
• Inform students in a clear and timely manner of curricular requirements, production and internship opportunities, and individualized study opportunities.
• Communicate in a clear and timely manner all PHTS policies, curricular and classroom structures and formats and evaluation protocols.
• Coordinate with NYU’s Student Affairs Office as well as the Department of Drama’s Student Services Director and Academic Advisement team to ensure that students are aware of and receive all available medical, counseling, and learning accommodation services.
• Observe students in the classroom and attend curricular productions, projects, workshops and presentations.
• Facilitate artistic matchmaker for professional, alumni and student creative endeavors.
• Spearhead alumni outreach and further develop mentoring network.

About Playwrights Horizons:
Playwrights Horizons is a 48-year-old Off-Broadway theater that develops and produces the new work of emerging and established American playwrights and musical theater artists. Playwrights Horizons is one of the country’s most respected theaters focused on the development of new work. The company produces 6 or 7 shows a year, commissions and develops new plays and musicals, operates Ticket Central, a low-cost box office that serves the New York City not-for-profit performing arts community, Playwrights Rehearsal Studios that serves the Off-Broadway and downtown community, and runs an undergraduate theater school in conjunction with New York University.
Since 1983, the Playwrights Horizons Theater School has provided thousands of theater students with intensive theater training, through a four-year program that emphasizes professional development and interdisciplinary theater training. The curriculum includes courses in acting, directing, dramaturgy, playwriting, design, musical theater, movement, voice, speech, script analysis, and theater management for nearly 200 students each year.
Third and fourth year students get hands on practical experience by participating in more than 50 student productions each year, including several original works written and produced by students as well as new work by emerging and established playwrights. Students receive additional instruction and insight from professionals in the theater, film and television industries.
Playwrights Horizons Theater School students graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from New York University. Graduates of the Theater School have gone on to full-time careers in theater, television, and film. Many students have also pursued graduate studies at prestigious universities around the country.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Playwrights Horizons is an equal opportunity employer, and has a strong institutional commitment to diversity in its staffing and to the principles that promote inclusive practices. The organization is particularly interested in receiving applications from a broad spectrum of people.

About NYU Tisch Department of Drama

The NYU Tisch Department of Drama is one of the largest undergraduate drama departments in the world. At the core of the program is the combination of conservatory training across 10 professional training studios and a robust academic curriculum in Theater Studies. The two enable students to develop and hone creative and intellectual skills that prepare them to enter, engage, and reinvent the performing arts. At the heart of the department sits a rich production schedule—some 150 shows and projects a year—that enables faculty and students to reconcile theory, training, and creation.

How to Apply:

Please submit a PDF version of your complete resume, cover letter highlighting the qualifications for the position, and three professional references to jobs@PHnyc.org with Director-PHTS in the subject line.