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Essential Duties:
1. Constructs and Fabricates Designs: Builds and assembles costumes, props, lighting, sets, and sound designs using specialized theatre techniques and materials, ensuring the designs align with creative vision.
2. Creates Stage-Worthy Costumes: Designs, fabricates, and alters costumes from patterns using a variety of fabrics and technologies, ensuring the costumes are fitting, functional, and aligned with production needs.
3. Alters Existing Costumes: Modifies and customizes costumes from stock to match the designer's sketches, making sure all adjustments meet the production’s artistic and functional standards.
4. Interprets Design Plans: Reads and analyzes blueprints, drawings, and technical plots. Develops sketches and detailed schematics to communicate design concepts for execution.
5. Scenic Art Creation: Handles all aspects of scenic art, from traditional to contemporary techniques, applying a wide range of painting media and tools to bring scenic renderings and models to life.
6. Effective Communication: Coordinates with directors, designers, and other technical staff to exchange information on materials, methods, and design execution, ensuring a smooth workflow and alignment of production goals.
7. Tool and Equipment Operation: Safely operates a range of theatrical tools and equipment, maintaining their upkeep. Responsible for ensuring that the facilities, tools, and equipment are kept in working order and meet safety standards.
8. Load-in and Strike: Participates in the physical setup (load-in) and teardown (strike) of productions, ensuring the safe and efficient setup and breakdown of sets, props, and other production elements.
9. Oversees and Instructs Support Staff: May oversee, mentor, and guide junior staff or volunteers in their tasks, ensuring they meet quality standards and stay on schedule during production activities.
10. Material Ordering and Budget Input: Orders materials and supplies for production needs, assisting with budget preparation by providing input on cost estimates and tracking expenses during the design and build process.
11. Health and Safety Compliance: Ensures adherence to all theatre health and safety protocols, including the safe handling of equipment, materials, and chemicals, as well as maintaining a safe work environment.
12. Additional Functions: Performs other theatre-related duties as needed, including last-minute adjustments, problem-solving, and responding to unforeseen production demands.
Skills & Abilities:
1: High level creative problem solving
2: Heightened technical theatre understanding
3: Greater attention to detail
4: Experience with collaboration and meaningful communication
5: Heightened organizational and time management skills
Physical Requirements:
Ability to climb non-ADA compliant stairs, ability to carry 40 lbs, manual dexterity and precision
Principal Responsibilities
1. Plans, schedules and ensures timely provision of costumes, lighting, props, sets, and sound elements to established show standards. 2. Collaborates in the development of production budgets and solutions to design needs. Creates and implements special effects. Oversees, instructs and trains support staff and student crews. May attend production or budget meetings and rehearsals. 3. Interprets costume designer’s sketches by creating paper patterns for designs. Prepares construction drawings for shop projects. Creates and implements special effects as outlined in lighting and sound design. Orders materials, tools and supplies. 4. Ensures the timely transfer and storage of finished costumes, costume accessories, wigs and facial hair to designated performance space. Fits/adjusts costumes to actors. 5. Interprets and articulates actor’s costuming requests to appropriate staff. Maintains show standards throughout run of production. 6. May participate in load-in, strike and run crew of production. Ensures proper use and maintenance of facilities, shop, tools and equipment. 7. Oversees compliance with theatre’s health and safety standards. Performs other functions incidental to theatre activities as needed/requested. Required Education and Experience Six years of related work experience, four of them in the same job family at the next lower level, and high school level education; or four years of related work experience and an Associate's degree; or little or no work experience and a Bachelor's degree in a related field; or an equivalent combination of experience and education.Job Posting Date
09/01/2026Job Category
TechnicianBargaining Unit
NONCompensation Grade
Labor Grade DCompensation Grade Profile
Hourly Range
$0.00Time Type
Part timeDuration Type
Temporary / Casual (Fixed Term)Work Model
On-siteBackground Check Requirements
All candidates for employment will be subject to pre-employment background screening for this position, which may include motor vehicle, DOT certification, drug testing and credit checks based on the position description and job requirements. All offers are contingent upon the successful completion of the background check. For additional information on the background check requirements and process visit "Learn about background checks" under the Applicant Support Resources section of Careers on the It's Your Yale website.
Health Requirements
Certain positions have associated health requirements based on specific job responsibilities. These may include vaccinations, tests, or examinations, as required by law, regulation, or university policy.
Posting Disclaimer
The hiring rate of a role is determined in accordance with the provisions outlined in the respective collective bargaining agreement.
The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the essential functions that will be required of the position and should not be construed as a declaration of specific duties and responsibilities of the position. Employees will be assigned specific job-related duties through their hiring department.
The University is committed to basing judgments concerning the admission, education, and employment of individuals upon their qualifications and abilities and seeks to attract to its faculty, staff, and student body qualified persons from a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives. In accordance with this policy and as delineated by federal and Connecticut law, Yale does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment against any individual on account of that individual’s sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, disability, status as a special disabled veteran, veteran of the Vietnam era or other covered veteran.
Inquiries concerning Yale's Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment may be referred to the Office of Institutional Equity and Accessibility (OIEA).
Note
Yale University is a tobacco-free campus.