2024-2025 Part-time Acting I Instructor

The Chicago High School for the Arts seeks an Acting I Instructor for the 2024-2025 school year.

Title: Acting I

Department: Theatre

Classification: Part-time instructor

Position Summary

The ideal candidate will be a specialist in the field and will have the passion and skills to create a learning environment that will offer a rigorous pre-professional arts training that challenges students to achieve at high levels. Instructors at ChiArts will be required to differentiate instruction, design lesson, and unit plans that properly assess student achievement, and encourage skill development and critical thinking.

The ChiArts Theatre Conservatory offers a rigorous program of instruction at the highest artistic and academic level. The program has a mission to prepare students for admission into competitive college/university programs and/or to work in the profession. Students in the Theatre Conservatory have the unique experience of working with a range of artists from the Chicago theater community, giving them unique insights into and experiences with professionals in the field.

The Theatre Conservatory currently includes two programs: Acting and Musical Theatre. The Acting major focuses on a progression of study that includes acting, voice and speech, movement, history of theatre practice and literature, stage production and design, periods and styles, and devising new work. The Musical Theatre major works with faculty from the Theatre, Music and Dance conservatories, and focuses on a progression of study that includes acting, vocal technique, dance, music theory, keyboard, chorale, the history of musical theatre practice and literature, stage production and design, and devising new work.

Acting I (2 semesters)

Students explore making strong choices and taking risks as individual performers and as an ensemble, using improvisation as a foundation in the first semester and story theatre in the second. The basics of character development, scenic construction, and dramatic agreement are explored using body, voice, and imagination to create fully realized and committed characters. Using techniques drawn from multiple theatrical backgrounds and pioneers, students heighten their connection to sensory life, environment, and relationship in order to strengthen their creativity, imagination, and understanding of human behavior. They develop skills related to scenic objectives, listening, impulse, problem-solving, physical and verbal communication, and given circumstances. They take the skills developed through improvisation in the first half of the year and apply them to text work in the second semester. Performance Requirements: Freshman Preview (Fall) and Acting Curtain Call (Spring).

Responsibilities

• Classroom and professional duties include, but are not limited to the following:
• Embrace and promote the ChiArts vision, mission, educational approach, goals, and core values
• Prepare structured lessons that encourage and foster skill development, critical thinking, applications, and ethics.
• Instruct conservatory-level courses, serving students with various learning styles, abilities, and needs.
• Submit course documentation, including syllabus, unit plans, lesson plans, assignments, assessments, and all materials used in classroom instruction on a timely basis.
• Employ outstanding classroom management skills and implement the school code of conduct.
• Regularly assess student achievement, skill mastery and career development skills.
• -Manage classroom administration and record keeping, including grades, attendance records, student progress, and documentation of student work.
• Regularly communicate with students, parents, and other ChiArts staff to share artistic progress, encourage positive behavior, and resolve behavioral and artistic issues.
• Attend and participate in faculty and administrative meetings, parent conferences, open house, other school functions, and in- service professional development sessions.
• Collaborate with the staff to develop “best practices” tailored to the unique philosophy and instructional approach of ChiArts and to the needs of its student population.
• Collaborate with other ChiArts artistic and academic faculty and the larger arts community.
• Perform other duties as the needs of the school and needs of the students may demand (e.g., competitions, exhibits.)
• Work with academic staff to ensure student’s overall success at ChiArts.
  
  

SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS (please note that these are preferred but not always required):

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of five (5) years of training in theatre and/or music
• Minimum of seven (7) years of professional experience in theatre or course-related field
• Minimum of five (5) years of previous teaching experience at a pre-professional or professional level.
• Prior experience teaching high school students is strongly preferred.
• Ability to play piano
• Experience teaching related coursework is mandatory.
• Illinois State Teacher Certification is preferred but may not be required
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Excellent curriculum development and course documentation skills
• Excellent classroom management ability
  
  

SALARY

Part-time position

Pay Will Be Commensurate With Experience And Qualifications.

Application Process

Qualified applicants should apply online at www.chiarts.org and upload the following documents:

• Cover Letter
• Resume
• Contact Information for 3-5 Professional References; do not include letters of recommendation.
  
  

No phone inquiries, please. Do not send videos, portfolios, or other materials.

Applicants who do not follow the submission directions will not be considered. Please be aware that every item listed on a resume is subject to verification and that any offer of employment is contingent on a successful background check.

The Chicago High School for the Arts (“ChiArts”) began its life as part of a quest for greater diversity among Chicago’s arts and cultural institutions. ChiArts continues that quest by building holistic diversity at all levels, including students, faculty, staff, and board of directors. As part of that continuing quest, ChiArts embraces and carries into effect the Illinois Human Rights Act and the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance.