Managing Director at Dobama Theatre

Reports to: Board of Directors

Category: Full-time Exempt

Overview:

Dobama Theatre, Cleveland’s Off-Broadway Theatre, has an exciting opportunity for a dynamic and strategic Managing Director to lead and grow the theatre through its 60th Season and beyond. Dobama Theatre’s mission is to premiere the best contemporary plays by established and emerging playwrights in professional productions of the highest quality. As Cleveland’s only Small Professional Theater, we are seeking a Managing Director passionate about producing new work, strengthening the theatre within the community, and continuing to drive forward the growth of the theater through fundraising efforts, Board development, strategic planning, business administration and financial management.

Key Responsibilities:

•   Maintain a transparent and productive working relationship with the Artistic Director and the Board of Directors to pursue Dobama Theatre’s mission, expand its reach, and help move the organization to a new level of excellence as it enters its 60th Season in 2019/20.

•   Create networking opportunities on behalf of Dobama Theatre in the community and maintain a visual presence by participating in business, civic, and government events with an eye towards increasing the theatre’s visibility and connection to the wider community.

•   Grow Dobama’s relationships with grantmaking organizations and develop new relationships and partnerships in the business community, as well as with donors, patrons, media, elected officials, and arts leaders.

•   Devise and manage annual operation and capital budgets, oversee financial reporting and control procedures, communicate financial data and provide financial analysis to Board, Staff and other stakeholders.

•   Oversee all Management and Operations personnel, including the General Manager, Patron Services staff and other Front of House staff. Responsibility for all company management/human resources issues. Communicate as the theatre’s contact with Actors’ Equity Association representatives in all union matters, including oversight of contracts.

•   Direct and cultivate new and continuing development initiatives, including grant writing, reporting, and submission, corporate giving, fundraising initiatives, and strategies and goals for growing Dobama’s base of contributed support.

•   Design and execute Marketing and Audience Development initiatives. This includes acting as Media and Public Relations contact for the organization.

•   Collaborate with the Board and Artistic Director to develop and maintain ongoing strategic planning goals and processes.

•   Work closely with the Executive Committee on Board development, including helping to identify and cultivate new Board members as well as ensure timely reports in advance of monthly Board meetings. The Managing Director reports directly to the Board of Directors, as Dobama Theatre uses a dual-reporting organizational structure.

Qualifications, Requirements, and Attributes:

•   3-5 years of experience in a leadership position in theatre arts management, with preference given to candidates with strong development skills and experience

•   Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree in theatre management preferred

•   Strong personnel management skills

•   Comfortable managing plans with multiple and shifting timelines and outcomes

•   Excellent written, verbal, public speaking, and interpersonal skills, including ability to write clearly and persuasively, and to represent Dobama effectively to donors and prospects, audiences, and the media

•   Outstanding instincts for building relationships and developing and optimizing cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for donors

•   Excellent computer skills including MS Office and Salesforce/Patron Manager or similar CRM/database software

•   Dynamic leadership skills and the ability to envision Dobama’s strategic direction and build its organizational capacity for the long-term, while attending to daily operational duties.

About the Organization:

Founded in 1959, Dobama Theatre is an Equity (SPT-3) Theatre in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, that has a celebrated history of risk-taking and producing important and critically acclaimed new plays. In recent years, Dobama has been a leader in professionalism for the Northeast Ohio theatre community.

Dobama Theatre’s mission is to produce Cleveland, regional, and world premieres of the best contemporary plays by established and emerging playwrights in professional productions of the highest quality. Through educational and outreach programming, Dobama Theatre nurtures the development of theatre artists and builds new audiences for the arts while provoking an examination of our contemporary world. Dobama is committed to telling stories that reflect the community we serve and to producing important plays, many of which contain themes that address vital issues facing our modern world. For its 59th Mainstage season, Dobama is producing six plays by six award-winning women playwrights. In addition to premiering new work, Dobama produces two unique educational programs: the 41st Annual Marilyn Bianchi Kids’ Playwriting Festival, the first of its kind in the country, and the summer acting intensive Dobama Emerging Actors Program (DEAP), which will see its 10th year in 2019. Dobama is also home to a professional playwriting unit, the Playwrights’ GYM. 

Since the arrival of Nathan Motta as Artistic Director in 2013 and its recognition as an Equity House in 2014/15, Dobama has experienced exponential growth and anticipates continuing on that growth trajectory over the next several seasons. With a budget of $720K in 2018/19, Dobama reaches more than 15,000 theater lovers every year. The Theatre’s home is the intimate, 150-seat theater inside the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library complex.

Dobama Theatre’s 2018/19 Season can be found at www.dobama.org.

Compensation:

Dobama Theatre offers a competitive salary, a contribution toward medical coverage, and a flexible PTO plan.

To Apply :

Please send a cover letter, resume, salary requirements, and at least three (3) professional references to Charles Owens, Executive Search Consultant, Resonate Search Group at

cowens@resonatesearchgroup.com with DOBAMA SEARCH in the subject line, as soon as possible, but no later than February 17, 2019. No phone calls, please.