Recruitment: OZ Assistant Director

Tobacco Factory Theatres and Pins and Needles Productions are seeking an Assistant Director for their Christmas show, OZ.  OZ is a darkly humorous take on the classic book by L. Frank Baum, with all the signature characters and nods to the iconic film, but also offering audiences plenty of new material to discover. An ensemble of five experienced performers will multi-role and sing their way through this energetic, physical and ambitious interpretation.

 We are looking for a dynamic individual who would relish working as part of our creative team and who ideally has experience in physical theatre or movement direction. You would need to be available for a 5 week period beginning on Mon 08 November until Tue 14 December 2021. 

The fee for this role is £2500

Key dates

Rehearsals Mon 08 November – Mon 06 December 

Get in to TFT & Production w/c Mon 06 December

Previews Fri 10 – Mon 13 December  

Press night Tue 14 December

The Assistant Director will:

• Provide general assistance to the Director.
• Participate and support in rehearsals and have input into discussions and production meetings.
• Assist the company in documenting the rehearsal process for the purposes of marketing, archiving and evaluating the project through blogs, social media and other forms as agreed.
• Assist the Director in the production weeks as required.
• Attend and participate in post-show discussions by mutual agreement with the Producer.
• Deliver associated workshops as necessary.
• Be adaptable to the creative process and committed to the artistic aims of the production.
• Support the company whilst the production is running as agreed with the Director, including attending and noting the production (exact dates TBC)
• Support the Director in the physical & movement elements of the production.
• Any further duties as required by the Director.

The Assistant Director will have: 

• Experience of working with movement, physical theatre or choreography in their own work. 
• Experience of working with theatre (this can be in any setting). 
• A base to live in Bristol or surrounding areas ( within 20 miles of Tobacco Factory Theatres). 
• Some experience of facilitating workshops. 
• The confidence to express their ideas.
• A desire and openness to grow and learn whilst working on the process. 
• An interest in building a relationship with Tobacco Factory Theatres and Pins and Needles Productions.
• Collaboration as a core part of their practice. 
• An interest in creating high quality work for family audiences.

How to apply

Please send us your CV and either:

1) A maximum of 600 written words (either bullet points or full sentences, whichever you feel more comfortable with) telling us:
– Who you are
– Why you want to work as an Assistant Director
– About your experience of working with physical theatre/movement/choreography
– Why you think The Wizard of Oz lends itself to being adapted for the stage this Christmas

Or…

2) A video of up to 3 minutes long with the smallest file size possible  addressing the same points as detailed above. A private YouTube link is preferable – see this How To guide.

Please also send us a completed Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form, which you can download from the right of this page.

Please send these materials to pauline@tobaccofactorytheatres.com by 12 noon on Mon 11 October, with the following subject line: OZ ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

We will respond to every applicant within two weeks of the deadline.

We will be interviewing shortlisted candidates in mid-October either online or in-person.

If our application process feels inaccessible to you, please let us know by email to artists@tobaccofactorytheatres.com