Children’s Theatre Production Manager

Children’s Theatre Production Manager

About the Children’s Theatre of Western Springs

The Children’s Theatre of Western Springs (CTWS) runs semester-long classes, 4 productions per year, and extensive summer camp programs, all for students in grades K-12. Each semester, enrolled students in our classes can participate as cast or crew for our productions. Our 2024-25 season includes Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer JR and Peter and the Starcatcher in the fall, and The Wizard of Oz: Youth Edition and Our Town in the spring. CTWS is overseen by our Children’s Theatre Director, Nick Corpora Brandt, and assisted by our CTWS Assistant, Mary Villaflor. The Children’s Theatre Production Manager (PM) oversees production-related activities at the Theatre. Our Technical Director oversees the creation of the set and larger props for each show.

Students can choose to audition for or to be on backstage for our productions. If not cast, students are assigned to a crew role instead. All parents are assigned to crew roles as volunteers, including as Crew Chairs (designers) to oversee production elements including costumes, props, sound, and makeup.

In the summer, we have multiple performance camps. Summer 2025’s camps are Once Upon a Mattress, Beetlejuice JR, Legally Blonde, as well as shorter camps for improv and intro-to-theatre. The PM oversees our K-8 camps as the Camp Coordinator, supervising day-to-day operations of these camps, and organizing technical elements alongside the Children’s Theatre Director and Technical Director.

Job Description:

The CTWS production manager (“PM”) provides support to the Children’s Theatre in the following ways: communication, liaison to parent volunteers, backstage management, supervising students, and stage management. The PM reports directly to the Children’s Theatre Director and is a part-time, year around position.

Primary Responsibilities:

The PM is primarily responsible for being the on-site supervisor for rehearsals; communicating with parents and volunteers about all matters related to productions; training parent crew chairs and being the first-line source of information and support to them; providing support to the production’s director; managing crew chairs and backstage; training student crews.

Duties may include:

• Communication:
  • Drafting and sending weekly communication updates to parents related to productions. This may include rehearsal schedules, performance updates, or volunteer needs.
  • Responding to parent questions via email or phone related to productions. PM will be given a staff email account and business cell phone to utilize.
  • Following up with parents about production-related issues.
  • Managing student behavior at rehearsals, and communicating issues to families if needed.
• Crew Training
  • Assigning parents and students to crew areas including props, costumes, set, lights, sound, front-of-house, and stage management.
  • Training parents to be backstage crew members, designers (“crew chairs”) and other volunteer roles using personal knowledge, industry standards, and CTWS provided materials.
  • Answering parent questions and providing knowledge and support to them as needed.
  • Facilitating mentorships between new volunteers and experienced ones.
  • Training student crew members in roles as stage managers and ASMs.
  • Organizing volunteer days (painting, building, light hang, prop creation, etc) for parents and students.
• Production
  • Assisting with the run of auditions and casting process for semester productions.
  • Providing stage management and production support to directing teams.
  • On-site supervisor for production rehearsals including arrival/dismissal of students, medical needs, and general office support.
  • Training and providing support to student stage managers, including assistance with prompt book creation, board training, and rehearsal reports.
  • Main go-to and in charge of backstage during tech and run-of-show. On-site supervisor for performances.
  • Coordinates our “Backstage Brigade” crew for grades K-2 with fun backstage crafts and activities.
  • Helps maintain the theatre’s costume and props storage.

General Hours

Approximately 15-20 hours per week average; closer to 10 during slower months, closer to 30 during performance months. Around 12 of those hours will be during rehearsal times (typically Monday/Wednesday nights, and Saturday mornings). In the summer, hours will change to Monday-Friday mornings, with some afternoons, to coincide with our performance summer camps. The rest of the hours may be spent meeting with crews, pulling production elements from storage, office prep work and organization, etc. Hours are tracked by the PM and submitted for payroll monthly. Some duties may be done remotely.

2025-26 Season Dates

Audition Weekends: September 13-14, January 17-18

Tech Weeks: November 1-5, November 29-December 3, March 7-11, April 11-15

Performances: November 6-9, December 4-14, March 12-15, April 16-26

Summer Camp Dates 2026: June 8-August 1

Pay

Pay rate is $20-22 per hour based on experience.