Part-Time Founding Teaching Position · Reports to the Principal · Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s preferred in Theatre, Directing, or Theatre Education · Directing and production experience required · Dance or movement background a plus · Illinois Professional Educator License in theatre or drama preferred and National Board Certification a major plus · 3+ years of secondary (grades 6–12) teaching or directing experience preferred; high school (grades 9–12) teaching highly preferred · College-preparatory, independent, Jewish day or faith-based school experience is a plus. Being Jewish is not a requirement for this role. Fewer years but exceptional craft? We hire for mastery, not seat time. Are you a director-educator with both stagecraft and classroom craft? Do you believe theatre builds confidence, empathy, and excellence like nothing else a school offers? Are you excited to stage a founding company’s very first production? If so, Davis School Chicago wants to hear from you. The Dream Team Davis School Chicago is a proudly Jewish, college-preparatory high school opening in fall 2027 in downtown Chicago, in a state-of-the-art building at the heart of a great city for learning. Every adult at Davis Chicago is an educator and a culture-builder. We hold two expectations at the same time: deep human warmth and uncompromising intellectual excellence. High health and high results, never one at the cost of the other. This is a summary of the characteristics that describe our dream team. Please read the full Profile of the Ideal Davis Chicago Educator and more information about our opportunities before you apply. To thrive here you are: • Warm and intellectually formidable. Genuinely kind and seriously bright. We hire for intellectual horsepower; only sharp minds grow students to their full potential. • You bring the room to life. Passion people feel, loud or quiet, with the range to teach, support, and lead. • A builder who owns it. Startup grit, a real growth mindset, open about mistakes, gives the gift of feedback, and the drive to create what doesn’t exist yet. • Teach how to think, not what to think. Rigor, evidence, and a love of hard questions, including the controversial ones. Students reach their own conclusions. • Rooted in tradition, built for what’s next. Ancient wisdom and modern tools, AI included, aimed at today's problems. • Unapologetically Jewish. Israel has a right to exist; that is not up for debate. Everything else is fair game, including spirited debate about Israel’s actions. You’re excited to help build a proudly Jewish, pro-Israel school. What Davis Chicago Needs Davis Chicago is hiring a part-time Theatre Teacher / Director to build theatre at the school. Founding-year sections are drawn from Theatre Foundation and Theatre Tech as founding-class elective choices fill them, with the school’s first productions staged alongside them and the Performing Arts Capstone sequence opening to students who complete a first-year course. If you are interested in a full-time role and have the ability to teach across the arts in addition to theatre, Davis School Chicago is also hiring a founding Arts Department Chair. This role is a teacher-leader who builds our visual and performing arts program and teaches in it every day. Who Thrives in This Role • Warm, Relational, and High-Performing – Kind, emotionally intelligent, intellectually rigorous, and committed to excellence. • A Director-Educator – Stagecraft and classroom craft in one person. • A Company Builder – Casts wide, builds belonging, opens strong. • An Entrepreneurial Builder – Thrives in ambiguity, solves problems, and creates programs, systems, and traditions from the ground up. • A Curious and Courageous Thinker – Embraces learning, evidence, critical thinking, and meaningful debate. • Rooted and Forward-Looking – Honors tradition while embracing innovation, technology, and AI. • Committed to Jewish Life and Community – Values Jewish identity, the diversity of Jewish thought, and meaningful engagement in Jewish life. • A Collaborative Culture-Builder – Balances accountability, care, and results while elevating everyone around them. The Role The Theatre Teacher / Director is responsible for delivering engaging, rigorous, and student-centered instruction in Theatre Foundation and Theatre Tech, and for staging the productions that begin the school’s theatrical tradition. This educator will develop students’ acting, stagecraft, and technical theatre skills with equal seriousness, building the company culture and craft habits that carry students into the Performing Arts Capstone. The successful candidate will stage the school’s first productions and run a rehearsal room of curiosity, discipline, and joy. As a founding faculty member, the Theatre Teacher / Director will help shape curriculum, establish traditions, contribute to school culture, and collaborate closely with colleagues across disciplines to create a vibrant and integrated educational experience. 1. Instruction and Curriculum • Teach sections of Theatre Foundation and Theatre Tech as assigned. • Design and implement engaging, standards-based instruction in acting, stagecraft, and technical theatre, taught as disciplines with history, criticism, and performance woven together. • Teach to the National Core Arts Standards for theatre: students creating, performing, responding, and connecting in every unit. • Direct the founding productions, from selection through opening night, and establish the audition, rehearsal, and production systems a durable program needs. • Bring movement and dance into productions and coursework where your background allows. • Promote inquiry-based learning, studio practice, rehearsal and performance, critique, and project-based experiences, including immersive and experiential approaches where they deepen mastery. • Build toward the Performing Arts Capstone, a multi-year honors sequence in which students carry original work to presentati