Title: Production Manager
Reports to: Producing Artistic Director
Start Date: Flexible
About the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company
The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (CSC) is a resident ensemble theatre company bringing Shakespeare and the Classics to life for all. Operating out of The Otto M. Budig Theater, CSC hosts a year-round theatrical season in addition to special events, educational programming, and community engagement activities. In its theatrical portfolio, CSC executes up to ten mainstage productions and six touring productions annually. Beyond its theatrical portfolio, CSC supports collaborations with many local community and arts organizations.
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and access (DEIA) are priorities of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. CSC strongly supports equal employment opportunity for all applicants regardless of race, sex, religion, creed, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation or any other legally protected classification. Successful candidates will be committed to advancing CSC’s DEIA commitments with a particular emphasis to building a diverse team, an inclusive and accessible process, and an equitable department.
Position Overview
The Production Manager oversees the Production Department. The base schedule of this position is 9am-5pm Monday through Friday and flexes to accommodate production schedules, special events, and engagement programming.
The Production Manager is a member of the Leadership Team and Artistic Visionary Circle (AVC), alongside other directors and managers within the company. Within this team, the Production Manager represents the voices and interests of their department and its output while weighing in on the overall operations of the company. As a member of the AVC, the Production Manager is involved in the programming and artistic decisions of the company.
The Production Department realizes the visions of producers, directors, and designers within the resources allocated by the company. In response to the pandemic, CSC is in a state of recovery and rebuild. The incoming Production Manager should expect to be heavily involved in rebuilding and staffing the Production Department – which will likely be a multi-season effort. A successful candidate will have an involved approach to the work of their department, which may include hands-on tasks such as work notes or maintenance.
The Production Manager leads a team of department heads, designers, artisans, and overhire in the execution of all production elements of CSC’s programming. Team size typically ranges from 10-20 people (depending on the number of active projects and their demands) with an estimated five direct reports to the Production Manager. The Production Manager also engages external collaborators and freelancers (such as guest designers) as budgets and projects allow.
The Production Manager is responsible for collaborating with members of the Business Visionary Circle to ensure that programming schedules allow all aspects of the Company to meet mission, engagement, and revenue-oriented goals. The Production Manager is responsible for overseeing the scheduling of the theater, rehearsal spaces, technical equipment, and personnel as necessary to support engagement, education, and philanthropic-driven work.
Qualifications
Required skills include:
- Genuine leadership.
- Comfortable solving problems and making decisions with limited supervision.
- Previous experience in theatrical Production or Stage Management Departments (educational, intern, assistant, or associate-level experience acceptable).
- Previous experience with schedule management or creation.
Preferred skills include:
- Project Management experience.
- Previous experience in financial management (expense tracking, budget creation, or similar).
- Experience managing budgets and resources.
- General experience across multiple aspects of technical theater including stage management, costumes, scenic, lighting, props, scenic artistry, sound, projections, and front of house.
- Proficiency with the Microsoft Office suite including Microsoft Outlook.
- Proficiency with virtual meeting and distance learning platforms such as Zoom.
- Familiarity with AEA and SPT regulations and operations.
A successful candidate will also possess the following attributes:
- Genuine passion in cultivating and supporting a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible work environment.
- Drive to create world-class theater that has a significant impact in the community and beyond.
- Eagerness to learn.
- Ability to keep calm under pressure and remain tactful in stressful situations.
Responsibilities
Managerial & Fiscal
Business Planning & Scheduling:
- Create an annual business plan including schedules, budgets, and long-term planning for the Production Department for approval by Executive Leadership.
- Oversee creation of annual production and venue schedules and individual show schedules.
- Establish design and budget deadlines for each production process.
Expense Tracking:
- Compile weekly expense reports from production team members to track individual project and department spending.
- Process own expenses and submit all reports to the General Manager.
Purchasing:
- Collaborate with department heads to facilitate the purchase and sourcing of materials (stock, expendables, and specialty items) as necessary.
- Facilitate capital expense purchases as approved in the annual Company budget.
- Coordinate production equipment rentals and venue rentals as necessary.
Staffing:
- Actively engage in a broad, continuous recruiting process to ensure diverse candidate pools for available opportunities on design teams, staff, and temporary engagements.
- Supervise production team including department heads, assistants, overhire, and volunteers.
- Coordinate department rotations and shop hours for touring company members.
- Hire and manage production overhire and additional production staff as necessary.
Safety:
- Establish and maintain departmental safety standards.
- Serve as the Respiratory Program Administrator for the Company.
- Meet fire and building code requirements.
- Implement additional guidelines to optimize workplace safety.
- Process and distribute incident reports regarding any workplace safety concerns or accidents.
- Champion for improved safety standards year-over-year.
Programming & Artistic
Communication:
- Distribute production meeting notes within (1) day of production meetings.
- Coordinate and lead company through cadence of annual production schedule including design launches, project deadlines, rehearsals, technical, and performances.
- Attend first reads, designer runs, leadership meetings, production meetings, retreats, technical rehearsals, special events, and post-mortems.
- Present designs at first reads if designers are unable to attend.
- Coordinate with department heads regarding production element completion deadlines and handoff dates for multi-department elements.
- Coordinate install schedules with department heads to allow all departments access to the stage as necessary for project completion.
- Manage Google Drive or other service for production documentation and communication.
- Maintain production archive of past productions, financial activities, contracts, and schedules.
Maintenance:
- Oversee regular cleaning and inspections of all production spaces including the booth, shops, warehouse, and theater.
- Oversee offsite warehouse space, storage arrangements, and liaise with short-term tenant.
Vision:
- Engage with professional groups, industry conferences, and regional institutions as needed.
- Improve production artistic quality and consistency annually.
- Facilitate collaboration between department heads and production designers to improve productivity, encourage creativity, and promote issue resolution.
- Collaborate with the Producing Artistic Director regularly to discuss immediate and long-term production goals for Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.
- Serve as a member of Artistic Visionary Circle with a specific focus on Production.
In addition to the responsibilities above, all CSC staff may be asked to perform additional duties at the request of their supervisor.
Compensation & Benefits
This is a full time, salaried, exempt position with an annual salary range of $38,000-$42,000 (received through biweekly payroll). In addition to this salary, the Production Manager receives:
- Ten days of paid vacation, accrued seasonally.
- Six days of paid sick leave, accrued seasonally.
- Paid holiday leave.
- Access to group health insurance through Anthem with 50% of employee premiums paid by CSC.
- Optional enrollment in Health Savings Account plan.
- Access to dental insurance through Dental Care Plus with 50% of employee premiums paid by CSC.
- Life and AD&D coverage for the employee paid by CSC.
- Parental leave, short-term medical leave.
- 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan with employer match.
- Free access to CSC educational programming for dependents (Groundlings Junior, Groundlings, Summer Camp).
- Complimentary enrollment and membership to the Y which offers fitness facilities throughout the region and other wellness benefits.
- Complimentary and discounted tickets to all CSC productions.
To Apply
To apply for this position, candidates should complete the job application submission form available online below.
This application requires candidates to submit PDFs of their cover letter and resume. For this position, work sample submissions are optional and may include content such as: project budgets, work samples, production photos, project proposals, program schedules or calendars, etc. Candidates also have the option to provide URLs to online portfolios and profiles. Please take note of the submission file size limits.
If a candidate has questions about this position or requires different accommodations to submit an application, please contact lettie.vanhemert@cincyshakes.com. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
To submit a Job Application click here (and scroll down).
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