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In the theater world, a technical director is a resident technical expert who supervises the activities of all technical departments—from lighting and sound to carpentry—and oversees the use and maintenance of theater equipment. The Theater Technical Director is an essential position, with the primary responsibilities for maintaining the safe operations of our performance venues at each of our district’s school buildings to support the Brighton Central School music, theater, and speaker/assembly activities.

The technical director is responsible for operating, protecting, and maintaining the theater’s technical assets, while also managing and overseeing the different technical departments, including set (https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/scenic-designer) , lighting (https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/lighting-designer) , costumes (https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/costume-maker) , props, sound (https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/sound-designer-games) , and effects. They serve a dual role, acting sometimes as technical expert and advisor, and at other times as project coordinator.

The Technical Director reports to the Director of Visual and Performing Arts, Instructional Technology, and Data Compliance. The position is a 12-month position, at 37.5 hours per week, with additional hours required during production times. Compensation is commensurate with experience, and benefits are in accordance with the Non-Unit Support Staff contract agreement.

As technical experts, technical directors are responsible for:

Facility Maintenance of our Four Performance Venues

Lighting

+ Inventory of lighting equipment

+ Maintaining boards, dimmer racks, lighting fixtures, follow spots, and other lighting equipment

Sound

+ Inventory of sound equipment

+ Maintain boards, speakers, microphones, cables, racks, amplifiers, recording equipment, Yamaha sound equipment, and other sound equipment.

Theater Maintenance/Inspections/Repairs

+ Stage, Rigging equipment, Sound and light booths

+ Schedule annual inspections with outside, licensed/certified vendors

+ Oversee all outsourced repairs

+ Liason to Buildings, Grounds, Custodial, and Facilities teams

Rigging

+ Designing and inspecting theatrical rigging systems, like counterweight systems and chain motors

+ Ensuring the safe installation, calculation of load and weight capacities, and operation of scenery, lighting, and sound equipment according to industry safety standards.

+ Providing technical guidance to designers and other technical staff on rigging-related matters, and determining the best rigging system for each production, based on budget and technical requirements

+ Overseeing the installation, operation, and removal of rigging during the production cycle

Capital Improvements (as needed)

+ Order and install new equipment

+ Implement cost-saving strategies where possible

Production Support for all District curricular and co-curricular productions

+ Collaborate with all directors to develop, budget, and design sound, video, and lighting plots for each production, concert, and assembly.

+ Lighting hand and focus/strike

+ Lighting board programming and operation

+ Sound system setup/strike (Yamaha and Dante)

+ Sound system programming and operation (QL5 Sound Board)

+ K-12 Concerts, Theatrical productions, Rehearsals, Student Group Events, Senior Class Events, and Assemblies (approx. 100 per year, w/tech needs)

+ Manage set, drops, equipment, and prop needs

Production Support for the Brighton Summer Arts Program

+ Budgeting/prep for approximately three musicals, five concerts, and two events

+ Manage set, drops, equipment, and prop needs

+ Lighting/sound design and operations

Responsibilities also include the following:

+ Advisor for the BHS Tech Crew

+ Work with faculty and students on all technical matters related to theater and the auditorium.

+ Coordinate productions with the Theater Production Manager and Director of VPA.

+ Collaborate with the set design and fabrication team to create high-quality sets and props.

+ Attend and assist with the running and facilitation of all production meetings.

+ Attend rehearsals (as needed)

+ Support – rental groups in the auditoriums of Brighton, in conjunction with the District’s business office.

+ Setting and enforcing safe-use guidelines for equipment

+ Acting as the last line of defense for technical problems

+ Advising production managers (https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/production-manager-theater) , directors (https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/director) , and designers on feasibility, cost, and equipment capabilities

+ Turning designers’ sketches into technical drafts used to build sets and props

As project coordinators, technical directors are responsible for:

+ Recruiting and training technical staff

+ Scheduling technical staff for events or performances

+ Setting project deadlines

+ Creating and implementing budgets

+ Acting as the technical point of contact for productions

Job Qualifications

Professional Skills

+ Carpentry (sets and props)

+ Painting (sets and props)

+ Lighting (programming and rigging)

+ Theatrical sound

+ Technical effects (including video, projection, etc.)

+ Light Electrical Engineering

+ Project management

+ Personnel management

+ Architecture

+ Drafting and sketching

+ Model building

+ Stage design

+ Budgeting

+ Textual analysis

+ Innovation

+ Creative vision

+ Collaboration

+ Designing light plots

+ Sound design

+ Audio implementation

+ Audio production

+ Audio recording

+ Audio editing

+ Sound libraries

+ Rigging lights

+ Programming light boards

+ Color theory

Interpersonal Skills

Technical directors in a school district have a solid mix of hands-on technical responsibilities and managerial ones and should have an interest and proficiency in both these fields. This job is all about bringing different moving parts together and leading a student tech crew and directorial team in understanding long-term production goals, breaking them down into short-term ones, and delegating them effectively. For this, being organized, communicative, and goal-oriented is essential.

Because they’re part of a school-based team, which requires many individual parts—those created by student artistic and stage directors, vocal directors, choreographers, and orchestra directors—to be ready around the same time, technical designers must be extremely communicative, collaborative, empathetic, creative, and deadline-oriented.

Qualifications

+ Bachelor’s degree from a NYS college or university in Theater Design, Theater Design and Technical Production, Theatrical Design, Theatrical Production for Design and Technical Theater; OR

+ Graduation from a NYS college or university with a bachelor’s degree, with a minor, concentration, or at least 12 college credits in the fields mentioned above, plus one year of paid experience in lighting and sound design in a venue such as a school facility or professional theater production: OR

+ Graduation from a NYS college or university with an associate degree in one of the fields mentioned above, plus 2 years of experience, as discussed above.

Civil Service Title: Theatre Lighting and Sound Coordinator

Job Number: 25-26JW10-6-2025