Non-Degree Programs

Technical Internship Certificate

The Technical Design and Production department offers a one-year technical internship program for those seeking to become professional shop carpenters, sound engineers, properties masters, costumers, scenic artists, or master electricians. This training program combines six graduate-level courses with closely monitored practical work.

An assigned faculty or staff adviser guides each student in selecting three courses each term in his or her particular area of concentration. Most courses offered as part of the department’s three-year M.F.A. program are open to one-year technical interns. The courses cover a wide range of topics, including properties construction, shop technology, theatre safety, electricity, sound technology, scene painting, costume construction, patternmaking, machining, rigging, and AutoCAD.

Interns receive individual attention, training, and supervision from their department advisers and work side-by-side with Yale School of Drama/Yale Repertory Theatre’s professional staff.

Those who complete the program successfully receive the Technical Internship Certificate from Yale School of Drama at the May commencement ceremonies. Some of those who complete the program subsequently apply and are accepted into the three-year M.F.A. program in Technical Design and Production, receiving credit toward the degree for requirements already taken. Those who choose to enter the job market receive individual assistance from the School of Drama Registrar’s Dossier Service. Alumni provide many job opportunities for professionally trained theatre technicians.