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Provost UChicago Arts

About the Department

Court Theatre is a Tony Award-winning professional theatre company located in the Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. Founded in 1955, Court benefits from the University of Chicago\'s financial support and from its community of scholars and artists, while retaining artistic independence.

Court Theatre interprets classic theatre to illuminate our current times, and defines classic theatre as texts from any culture, tradition, or era that resonate throughout time and speak to our present moment. Court Theatre seeks to present an array of theatrical styles and periods and develops new work on classic themes with different forms of classic staging. In remaining fresh and fostering excellence, Court explores a broad range of topics. Whether through works composed several millennia in the past or works that have been adapted from contemporary graphic novels, Court remains relevant, exciting, engaging, and ready to cross boundaries.

The University of Chicago was founded in 1890 and is one of the world\'s leading research universities, celebrated for its faculty, students, graduate programs, and role in advancing Chicago communities. Home to over 3,100 faculty and with more than 18,000 students, the University is a center for educating, inspiring, and supporting academic and artistic operating units. A variety of museums, professional performance spaces, institutes, and academic departments support the artistic endeavors of students and faculty, while fostering UChicago\'s cultural and artistic life on campus. Among the arts organizations hosted by the University are the Court Theatre, Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago Presents, Smart Museum of Art, Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, Renaissance Society, Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, six galleries, and the nation\'s largest academic press, which promulgates scholarship on the arts.

Job Summary

The Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director will shape all of Court Theatre\'s artistic and arts-related programming and will collaborate with the Executive Director to provide overall leadership to the organization as it grows its artistic and educational vision and continues to expand its footprint in Chicago, nationally, and internationally. Reporting to the University\'s Provost and collaborating with the Court Board and staff, the Artistic Director is accountable for managing all aspects of the theatre\'s productions and programs, and for fundraising for arts programming in collaboration with the Executive Director.

The Artistic Director is expected to work closely with staff to ensure that the Theatre:

Builds on its reputation as a distinctive, exciting, thought-provoking theatre which explores classic themes and classic staging in ways that contemporary audiences find relevant and exciting;

Extends its commitment to contemporary work, with diversity as a value that guides artistic expression and decision-making;

Grows audiences and builds constituents among a new generation of supporters, including theatregoers from throughout the Chicago area and beyond; the diverse communities of the South Side; and UChicago faculty, students and alumni.

Responsibilities

Artistic Leadership: Understand all facets of Court Theatre, including the theatre\'s history, culture, staff, finances, play schedule and new play development; education and public programs; facility and infrastructure; operations; and annual, endowment and capital campaign initiatives. Understand Chicago and the University of Chicago, and their resources, other arts organizations, constituents, and diverse audiences. Bring to Court Theatre insights into the current state of theatre and theatr artists nationally and internationally.

Visionary Programming: Manage the artistic affairs of Court Theatre, including selection of works, directors, cast members, theatre tech, and programs that engage different audience cohorts; function as an ambassador for the Court and for University of Chicago, its artists, arts faculty, and programs.

Connecting to and Broadening Audiences: Understand the audience drawn from the University of Chicago and the Greater Chicago; cultivate a reputation of being a place for all sorts of theatre audiences, with topics, staging, language, audience experiences, and a vibe that is exciting to a very diverse community.

Developing Classic Theatre: Build a robust and well supported new play development process which includes commissioning of new work, expanding collaboration with University faculty, and more intensively involving University students and community residents in these processes; engage a range of guest artists who bring new vision to the stage; facilitate opportunities for Court\'s dramaturgy and work to be more broadly shared with other theatres.

Theatre Education and Outreach: Review the present status of the theatre\'s mainstage and education programming, and take charge of in-process work related to current and planned productions, events, and performances.

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