Technical Design and Production
Program Information
The Technical Design and Production (TD&P) program trains those who appreciate the artistry of technical systems as much as the science necessary to execute them, those who enjoy solving challenges through collaboration, and those who are driven to discover and innovate. Above all, we train those who want to foster a community where everyone belongs.
The program brings together immensely dedicated full-time faculty, lecturers, and production staff with a primary focus on supporting students in their career goals. In a field in constant tension with rapidly evolving technology and spectacle, we train technical managers who put people before product while achieving artistic goals.
The program’s plan of study includes design skill courses such as Drafting and Rigging, management skill courses like Production Planning and Technical Management, and various elective courses that allow concentration in such fields as production management, technical direction, automation design, or theater planning and consulting. The program’s faculty offer courses covering a wide range of topics, including automation, costume technology, drafting, health and safety, lighting, mechanical design, production planning, projection technology, properties, rigging, show control, sound, theatre management, technical writing, and theater engineering. Notable professionals guest-speak in a variety of different courses. We encourage students to augment their education with courses from other programs and schools at Yale, including Architecture, Management, and Engineering & Applied Science. For the degree, students need to successfully complete the nineteen courses outlined in the plan of study, six semesters of TD&P seminar, and at least fourteen elective courses.
Program courses are paired with professional work assignments (PWAs) that further students’ skills and goals. Though they sit within an academic program, these assignments are modeled after professional jobs the students might take on after Yale, requiring a similar approach, effort, and quality. Most PWAs place students in lead and assistant-level technical management roles on School and YRT productions, managing both production staff and work-study crews. Typical TD&P PWAs include such roles as production electricians, production managers, projection engineers, properties managers, safety advisers, sound engineers, stage carpenters, technical directors, and technical supervisors. Students can request additional roles or research projects as PWAs. In an interleaved manner, all PWAs serve to provide students practical training and research time to complement and reinforce the design and management skills training from the classroom. Additionally, they expose students to new techniques and foster the skill of working with diverse teams effectively and safely. The successful completion of eight PWAs is necessary for the degree.
The M.F.A./Certificate program culminates in a research thesis, designed, written, realized, and presented by the student on an industry-relevant topic above or beyond program offerings. The thesis requires students to investigate and highlight a topic in technical theater that has or will impact the field. It trains students to think as leaders and proficiently execute a self-driven project utilizing strategies for effective project management.