NEW YORK CITY: The New School has appointed Jermaine Hill as dean of the School of Drama at the College of Performing Arts. He currently serves as interim dean of theatre at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and will take on his new role on June 26. He will provide academic, artistic, and administrative leadership to the School of Drama’s undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff.
“The global search for this position attracted an extraordinary number of exemplary candidates, and Jermaine Hill emerged as the leading candidate, someone we are very excited about,” said Richard Kessler, executive dean of the College of Performing Arts in a statement. “Jermaine is an inspired leader with an impressive background as an educator, artist, and changemaker—qualities central to the college’s educational mission and approach to training multihyphenate artists. Jermaine’s experience will add greatly to the college’s vision and mission rooted in experiment, quality, and social consciousness.”
Before his time at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Hill was assistant professor and program coordinator of the musical theatre program at Columbia College Chicago, where he conducted a national search for new musicals written by historically marginalized writers and composers.
Hill is an award-winning music director, having music directed and written original arrangements for Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy. He also music-directed and served as conductor/pianist for The Color Purple during the 2022 season at the Muny. Other recent credits include Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies (Porchlight Music Theatre), Spunk (Roundabout Theatre’s Refocus Project), Goodman Theatre’s The Music Man, The Color Purple (Drury Lane Oakbrook), We Are Out There, Nell Gwynn, Madagascar (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), and Too Heavy for Your Pocket (TimeLine Theatre).
“I am honored and thrilled to join the School of Drama at the New School’s College of Performing Arts at this important and exciting time, and to bring my experience as a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and administrator to this role,” said Hill in a statement. “What is now the School of Drama has been shaping, influencing, and innovating the study and performance of dramatic arts for more than 80 years…I am passionate about curating spaces that celebrate a variety of pedagogical modes and intellectual perspectives, strive toward deeper community, civic, and social engagement, and equally prioritize holistic well-being with scholarly and artistic inquiry and excellence. I cannot wait to work with the faculty, staff, and students across the New School to realize our shared goals and ideals.”
As a singer, Jermaine has performed with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, the Britten-Pears Young Artists Programme/Aldeburgh Festival, and the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble. He is an ensemble member of Griffin Theatre and is on the artistic council of the Sarah Siddons Society. Hill received a bachelor of music in vocal performance from Ithaca College and a master’s of music with academic honors in vocal performance from the New England Conservatory of Music.
