The National High School Institute (Cherubs Program) at Northwestern University is a 5-week summer intensive for students entering their senior year of high school. They come from around the world and spend five weeks receiving a conservatory-style theatre education, culminating in 8 fully-mounted productions that all perform in rep. Students serve as cast, crew, and stage managers for the productions. Professional directors, designers, and technicians oversee and guide students through the process.

Production Assistant will work with Production Manager to oversee and support all aspects of production for our eight-show season. From guiding stage management and design tech students through the rehearsal and tech process, to assisting production departments and shops through load-in and tech.

Specific responsibilities include:.
Participate in online pre-production process, with flexibility regarding meeting times and meeting style. We have a Slack channel for communication, but in-person meetings, phone calls, and zoom calls are options for large group discussions or smaller breakout meetings.
Attend in-person NHSI orientation at the start of the program
Attend in-person production meetings. We will have one production meeting prior to students arriving on campus; a second meeting once rehearsals start, which will include our student stage managers; and a third meeting just before going into tech, again with our student stage managers.
Attend weekly NHSI all-staff meetings.
Daily check-ins with production shops.
Shopping trips for production shops, as needed.
Being present as an additional adult in production shops, as needed.
Compile and prepare cast lists, crew lists, and other rehearsal/production paperwork, as needed.
Visit evening rehearsals to check in with student stage managers.
Assist student stage managers with taping out rehearsal rooms.
Attend on-stage evening rehearsals and assist as needed.
Attend paper tech sessions with student stage managers and professional designers.
Attend tech and dress rehearsals, assisting as needed.
Participate in strike at the end of the program
Attend the final banquet.
While this represents roughly 95% of responsibilities, it is not exhaustive.
The Production Assistant role is one with a certain amount of specific responsibilities, but a fair amount of the job is responding to production needs as they arise and can+rsquo;t succinctly be described. There is a healthy amount of rolling with the punches.

Ideal candidates are those who enjoy working with students and have a passion for instruction and understand that our process is more important than our product. While we do want our shows to look and sound beautiful, that should not come at the expense of anyone+rsquo;s safety or mental health.