Stage Manager

Company: Kinetic Light
Location: New York, NY
Compensation: $30 per hour

Stage Manager

Classification: Full-Time, Non-Exempt, Temporary Employee
Duration: January 5, 2027—October 1, 2027
Compensation: $30 per hour, to be paid biweekly

About Kinetic Light

Kinetic Light (KL) is a disability arts organization that affirms and advances the disability arts movement. Founded by Alice Sheppard in 2016, KL works in the disciplines of art, technology, design, and dance. KL creates, performs, and teaches at the nexus of access, queerness, disability, dance, and race. KL’s work speaks to and emerges from disability aesthetics and disability culture, and it is connected to the rich traditions and exciting contemporary conversations of disabled artists in all artistic fields. In Kinetic Light’s work disability is not a deficit, it is a powerful, intersectional creative force that is essential to artistry. Access is integral to the art and creative process. KL’s equitably accessible, multi-sensory artmaking results in production-intensive, technologically sophisticated work.

About The Production: The Next TiMes

With fervent energy and luscious intimacy, The Next TiMes wrestles with solidity, uncertainty, and the fragile mysteries of the human body in an exploration of resilience, love, power, and connection. The Next TiMes is about secrets—about what we know, what we think we know, and what can and cannot be revealed. We immerse ourselves and our audiences in an otherworldly not-so-distant future, a space where survival and relationships are tenuous.

About The Production: Intimate Night

This performance features stunning solos, duet excerpts of Kinetic Light’s signature work, DESCENT, as well as sensual duets and dynamic trios from the Company’s newest work, The Next TiMes. The performance is set in a dynamic, flexible new lighting design by Annie Wiegand that defines an intimate space in which the audience are as much as part of the theater as the artists.

About The Production: You Caught Me On Your Shoulders

Anchored in concepts of access, care, and interdependence and remembering those who came before us, You Caught Me on Your Shoulders (YCMYS) is a meditation on liberation inspired by Philadelphia’s history of social justice and civil disobedience. Informed by critical movements for liberation (abolition, suffrage, disability, queer), all of which have converged in Philadelphia, YCMYS explores interrelation, freedom of speech, and the weight of silence. Using movement, light, projection, sound, and vibration, YCMYS will offer a series of vignettes that reference significant moments in disability advocacy and culture and highlight the necessity of human connection.

Kinetic Light is searching for two Stage Managers to work in tandem, sharing all stage management duties for the 2027 season. One Stage Manager will lead rehearsals, tech, and performances for Intimate Night, which will tour to Houston, Texas. The second Stage Manager will lead rehearsals, tech, and performances for The Next TiMes in San Francisco, California; and You Caught Me on Your Shoulders premiering in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Whichever Stage Manager is not calling a given show will work alongside the Show Caller to support other aspects of the stage management, rehearsal, tech, and performance processes.

Selection of the Stage Managers will be commensurate with experience and availability.

Job Summary

Key Responsibilities

• Schedule: Distribute rehearsal schedules, daily call times, and inform dancers of studio locations, parking, and logistics.
• Studio Setup: Prepare the studio for rehearsal by sweeping/mopping, setting up rehearsal audio equipment, and marking ("taping") the rehearsal floor to match the final stage dimensions.
• Documentation: Making a rehearsal record by taking meticulous notes on spacing, timing, and structural changes to the choreography ("blocking") and uploading the notes to the Company Google Drive creating, saving on the Company Drive, and distributing daily rehearsal reports to appropriate staff, and recording all rehearsals on the rehearsal phone and uploading videos to the Company drive.
• Communication: Act as the primary link between the choreographer, artistic directors, and dancers, communicating any scheduling or choreography changes immediately.
• Safety & Maintenance: Assist in maintaining a safe environment by keeping inventory of supplies (e.g., floor tape, first aid,) enforcing professional, industry-wide standards.

Health & Safety

• Responsible for onsite artist physical safety, emotional safety, liaison between artists and all other departments as needed, including calling and facilitating internal meetings as needed.
• Maintain a safe working environment by conforming to all established safety policies and procedures, including but not limited to government, city, venue, and Kinetic Light’s anti-COVID-19 safety protocols, which include masking and testing.
• Adhere to and promotes all Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations as they pertain to the safe operation of all elements related to the shows; participate in all required health and safety classes and emergency rescue procedure training.
• Ensure execution of and participate in KL’s access protocols within production work, for venue operations, and among crew and team.

Requirements

• Professional experience stage management of dance performance
• Strong understanding of rehearsal processes and working with dancers
• Excellent organizational and communication skills
• Experience managing schedules and logistics in a fast-paced environment
• Expert skills in digital technology tools including Google Apps, Slack, Microsoft Office Suite
• Operational knowledge of QLab
• Availability to work evenings and weekends
• Up to date COVID vaccination

Key Dates

• Onboarding and training, approximately 4 days, between January 5-8, 2027.
• January 11, 2027 and October 1, 2027, covering rehearsal, tech, and anticipated performances. Estimated 3-5-day work week and/or 25-40 hours per week, with an average of 30 hours per week.
• Scheduling is governed by the production schedule, which will be provided a minimum of two weeks in advance. Specific hours and days are subject to change based on production needs and the chosen candidate's availability.

Location

KL is a NYC-based organization with a hybrid/remote working structure. This role's in-person work will take place at KL’s studio located in DUMBO, Brooklyn, at 127 Plymouth Street. Occasional travel is required. Candidates must already reside within same-day commuting distance of NYC in one of the following states: New Jersey or New York. Candidates must be able to engage in air travel within the United States. Unless noted, all other work will occur remotely.

Compensation

• Hiring entity: Kinetic Light, Inc.
• Employment Classification & Compensation: Temporary, 10 months (January 6, 2027 through October 1, 2027), At-will, Full-time, Non-exempt, 25-40 hours/week, $30 per hour, to be paid biweekly.
• Benefits Package: State and/or City mandated benefits based on city of residence.
• Travel: Should candidate(s) be required to travel outside of the company’s home-base studio, Company will cover all travel related expenses including but not limited to: air/train-fare, ground transportation, lodging, and per diem in accordance with KL’s reimbursement policies and applicable GSA reimbursement rates.
• Additional Information: Employees must accurately report all hours worked. Any work beyond the approved schedule requires advance written approval, including overtime work. Any other pre-approved business expenses will be reimbursed in accordance with KL’s reimbursement policies.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Kinetic Light Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Disabled, BIPOC, SWANA, and LGBTQIA+ applicants are especially encouraged to apply.