Theater Instructor - Phillips Exeter Academy

The Theater and Dance Department at Phillips Exeter Academy invites applicants for a full-time salaried Theater Instructor position beginning Fall 2021. We are looking for an artist who is passionate about teaching, committed to mentoring, and willing to support and contribute to our department’s ongoing anti-racist work and commitment to actively creating an inclusive space.

Teaching responsibilities for the position will focus primarily on performance-based courses, such as acting, directing, and solo performance, as well as directing/devising at least one mainstage production per academic year. (If the successful applicant has experience with and interest in filmmaking, there is the possibility of teaching filmmaking, but this is not a requirement or expectation for this position.)

Applicants should possess a strong background in acting, knowledge of contemporary training and performance techniques, experience working with high school students, a proven ability to teach beginning and intermediate acting courses, and a commitment to inclusive casting practices. Candidates must have a demonstrated ability to work effectively with faculty, students, and staff from diverse backgrounds.

Preferred qualifications include professional experience as an actor, director, teaching artist or devised theater artist, as well as experience with Black, Latinx, Asian/Asian American, and/or Indigenous American theater/performance.

Experience and enthusiasm for working with adolescents both inside and outside of the classroom is essential. Spending time with students—giving extra help, advising, and working as dormitory faculty—is an integral part of the job.

In addition to a CV, applicants should submit a cover letter and/or teaching statement indicating a specific interest in teaching at a residential high school that is actively committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion.



Accountabilities

While individual responsibilities will vary from one faculty position to another, the major job duties of all faculty members include the following:

• Teaching: Faculty teach four classes per trimester. All classes are student-centered discussions around a Harkness table. In our department, the Harkness table may be a physical one in the classroom or an intangible one on the stage, but the principles of ensemble and alliance remain constant throughout our pedagogy. In order to meet the intellectual needs of the school’s talented and highly motivated students, teachers are expected to be dedicated to daily preparation for the best possible classes.

• Cultural Competency: Faculty are expected to demonstrate respect for diversity of identities and experiences, an orientation toward equity and inclusion, and cultural competency in all aspects of Academy life.

• Residential Life: Faculty generally reside in campus housing and play a critical role in cultivating Exeter’s community-centered student dormitory life. Each faculty member is generally responsible for one weekend and one to three week nights of dormitory duty per week, depending on the dormitory size.

• Advising: Faculty are expected to serve as mentors to student advisees throughout students’ time at Exeter. The adviser is the main liaison between an advisee’s family/guardian and the Academy.

• Extracurricular Activities: Faculty are generally expected to participate in the school’s extracurricular activities (e.g. advising student clubs, committee work).

Additional Requirements

1. A minimum of 3 years teaching experience (high school, college, or teaching artist residencies).

2. Diversity or cultural competency education (conferences, seminars, in-service programs, coursework, independent study.

3. Willingness to enforce all school policies and rules governing student behavior.

4. Proof of authority to work in the United States, full time.

5. Successful completion of a criminal background check, renewed every 5 years.

6. Clean Driving record.

7. Successful completion of a pre-employment health screen