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[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]Technical Director Position Open
Perseverance Theatre in Alaska seeks a Technical Director (TD) to work a full-time, year-round season, the position will be open till filled. The TD will be based in Juneau with some travel expected to Anchorage. Perseverance produces 6 mainstage shows each season, an annual holiday project in both Juneau and Anchorage, plus special projects, educational and outreach programming, on a $1.9 million dollar operating budget while operating on a transitional AEA Small Professional Theatre contract with Actors Equity. The TD must be able to plan and take responsibility for completing the mainstage scenic builds and transfers to Anchorage venues, and support other programming where possible. Perseverance designers for the 2017-18 season are all USA members with MFA’s from Yale or NYU.  Perseverance is a well-known company in the industry and the position is a great opportunity to establish a good portfolio of realized work, see Alaska, and build relationships in regional theatre. During the 2016-17 season, the full time shop staff will expand to 4 total positions including the TD, with a new shop position to be hired with the incoming TD’s participation. Additional contracted or overhire stff is hired in both Juneau and Anchorage. Facilities include a 160 seat thrust mainstage, a 40 seat black box second stage, and a scene shop located off-site. In Anchorage, Perseverance is a resident company at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, where Perseverance works in the Sydney Laurence and Discovery theatres, both Proscenium spaces. Candidates must have excellent skills managing people and time, and enthusiasm for collaborating with designers and making theatre as part of a small team. Exceptional welding, rigging, carpentry, and budget estimating skills are expected. Additional experience with electrics, sound, paints, properties and maintaining facilities will enhance any application. This is an excellent opportunity to join a growing organization and contribute to building your team in the shop.
Applications will be reviewed beginning the end of March, and continue until the position is filled. Salary low- mid 40s DOE, with health and four weeks paid leave annually, some relocation assistance is available. If qualified and interested, opportunities to teach and/or design are possible. To apply, send a resume, letter and three references to Perseverance Theatre at 914 Third Street, Douglas, AK 99824 or e-mail to Kathleen@PTAlaska.org
ABOUT PERSEVERANCE THEATRE
Perseverance Theatre (PT) is dedicated to making theatre by, and for Alaskans.
We were founded in 1979 in Juneau, Alaska’s state capital and a community 31,000 that is only accessible by plane or boat. Thirty Eight years later, Perseverance is the state’s largest professional theatre, serving over 25,000 Alaskan artists, students and audiences annually with classical, world premiere, and contemporary productions on our Juneau and Anchorage stages; providing extensive education programs for adults and youths; mounting statewide tours; and collaborating with groups ranging from Dark Winter Productions in Anchorage, to Sealaska Heritage Institute and Hoonah Indian Association in Southeast Alaska. In 2001, PT became the resident theatre at the University of Alaska Southeast.
We are a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with an annual budget that has nearly doubled over the past 6 years to 1.6 million. In December 2002, we were one of just seven theatres nationwide to have been awarded a $500,000 endowment challenge grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in New York, through their Leading National Theatres Program. We completed the challenge in 2005 and now possess a $1 million endowment fund. We also recently completed a $1.1 million capital campaign.
In 29 seasons under Artistic Directors Molly Smith (now the Artistic Director of the Arena Stage in Washington D.C.), Peter DuBois (Artistic Director at the Huntington Theatre Company), and PJ Paparelli (former Artistic Director of the American Theatre Company in Chicago), we’ve premiered over 50 new plays by Alaskan and national playwrights. Among them are The Long Season (2005), a World Premiere musical about the Filipino Alaskan experience, and columbinus (2005), a World Premiere exploration of adolescence and the phenomenon of school shootings. Both productions received coverage in American Theater magazine and on National Public Radio. The Long Season was subsequently presented at New Jersey’s George Street Playhouse; meanwhile, columbinus was produced off-Broadway in May 2006 at New York Theatre Workshop. Paula Vogel’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning play How I Learned to Drive was also written and developed at PT.
PT maintains a special emphasis on working with Alaskan artists. We maintain a local resident acting Company and training and development opportunities are an essential element of all our artistic operations. We are also committed to engaging artistic work that speaks directly to the Alaskan experience. Moby Dick (2001) was a World Premiere fusion of Melville with the whaling traditions of the Iñupiat Eskimos. Performed by a multi-ethnic cast of Alaskan performers, this production later toured to Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Barrow, the northernmost settlement in North America. Meanwhile, Macbeth (2004) was set in the context of Southeast Alaska’s indigenous Tlingit culture and was performed by an all-Alaska Native cast. This piece later toured the state and, in March 2007, was remounted a third time for performances at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.
For more information, please visit our website at www.ptalaska.org.
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THE FACILITIES
Before it became Perseverance Theatre, the 47-year-old building at 914 Third Street in Douglas was home to the Taku Bar, widely acknowledged for having the best pool tables in town. When the theatre opened in 1979, performances were held in the reconfigured barroom for capacity crowds of 70, but it wasn’t long before more room was needed. In 1983, volunteers from across the community built an addition for our 161-seat Mainstage theatre (a 55’ x 45’ flexible modified thrust). This space was inaugurated with a production of Patrick Meyer’s K2, performed on the same scaffolding that had just been used to raise the roof.  Meanwhile, the former space was converted into the “Phoenix,” a rehearsal room/Second Stage (a 22’ x 50’ flexible black box with a seating capacity of 49). The upstairs of the building currently contains administrative offices and two rental apartments, while the basement contains dressing rooms and storage. We continue to pay down a mortgage on this building and we rent a space right next door as a costume shop. In 1994, the state approved a grant enabling us to purchase a 6300 square foot lot directly adjacent to our facility and a 24’ x 24’ storage unit currently rests on this land. In 1999, PT embarked on a $1.1 million facility renovation and expansion campaign. Last spring we completed construction of a brand new annex building about a ten-minute drive away, which houses a rehearsal hall, set shop, and artists housing. We own this land and the building outright.
ABOUT JUNEAU
The Tlingit and Haida people were the first settlers of what is now known as Southeast Alaska and they fished the rich salmon routes here for centuries. Russian fur traders joined them in the late 1800’s. Once Joe Juneau discovered gold in 1880, Juneau boomed into a gold rush town. That pioneer spirit, Alaska Native, and Russian cultures, still inform life here in vital ways.
Today, Juneau is Alaska’s state capital and third largest city. Like Alaska, Juneau is full of contrasts: a sophisticated cosmopolitan city located in the lush heart of the Tongass National Forest. Downtown Juneau sits at sea level, nestled at the base of Mount Juneau (elev. 3,576 feet) and Mount Roberts (elev. 3,819 feet). Douglas Island—home to PT—sits across Gastineau Channel from downtown Juneau and is connected to the mainland by a single bridge. The stunning physical environment features glaciers, snow-capped mountains, and waterfalls and is home to abundant wildlife, including whales, bears, and bald eagles.
The current population of Juneau numbers just over 30,000 and, is 75% White, 11% Native American, 5% Asian, 3% Hispanic or Latino, 0.8% Black, and 0.4% Pacific Islander. The economy is based on state, local, and Federal government, tourism, mining, fishing, and logging.
The rainforest keeps the climate mild and wet year-round. The mean annual temperature is 55°F. Winter temperatures seldom drop below 20°F and summer temperatures seldom exceed 65°F. The abundant rainfall grows very large Sitka spruce and Western hemlock in the forests and abundant fish in local waters. Snowfall is heavy in most winters, averaging 101 inches.
Juneau does not have the “midnight sun” experienced further north in Alaska, but day length is much longer in the summer and much shorter in the winter than in the “Lower 48.” On the summer solstice, we receive more than 18 hours of sunlight, while, on the winter solstice, we receive just six.
Juneau offers unparalleled outdoor recreational activities, including kayaking, rafting, fishing, and hiking in the summer and snowboarding and skiing in the winter. The area also supports 35 churches, a high school, two middle schools, several elementary schools, and the University of Alaska Southeast campus at Auke Lake.
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