Acts 18:3 (Notes, Comments, and Tentmakers?)

Greek: καὶ διὰ τὸ ὁμότεχνον εἶναι ἔμενεν παρ’ αὐτοῖς καὶ ἠργάζετο, ἦσαν γὰρ σκηνοποιοὶ τῇ τέχνῃ.

HCSB: "and being of the same occupation, stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade."

Footnote: "Or leatherworkers, or less likely manufacturers of theatrical properties"

NET Bible translates "worked with them" since it construes παρ’ αὐτοῖς with the finite verb
ἔμενεν and by implication construes παρ’ αὐτοῖς with ἠργάζετο due to the verbal syntax.

Were Aquila and Priscilla tentmakers, leatherworkers or "manufacturers of theatrical properties"?

The entire entry in Rogers and Rogers is worth perusing, but in summary, they define
σκηνοποιός as "tentmaker, leather worker, tent-cloth worker (page 276).

BDAG explores the possible meanings for σκηνοποιός. The lexicon mentions and briefly explores the denotation "maker of stage properties" or "manufacturer of stage properties," but suggests that neither Aquila nor Priscilla may have done that occupation due to religious objections from first-century Jews. Therefore, BDAG moves to the second potential denotation, "tentmaker."

It is not clear from the evidence at hand whether Aquila, Priscilla, and Paul made tents. Exodus 26:1 (LXX) seems helpful, but the context leaves little to any doubt what activity is being depicted. The entry for σκηνοποιός does not give a fixed answer for the tentmaker denotation but enough is said to leave uncertainty on the meaning within the lexicon. The entry closes with consideration to the idea that the most appropriate meaning could be "leather-worker." However, Danker winds up favoring "maker of stage properties" for this word: regardless of the side one takes on this matter, BDAG is certainly worth consulting.

The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek: σκηνοποιός -οῦ, ό [σκηνοποιέω] tentmaker, extens. tanner NT Acts 18.31| theater set-designer COM. 806 || later adj. [σκήνος] that which makes bodies, of nature CH exc. 26.4.

Zerwick-Grosvenor provide this gloss for τὸ ὁμότεχνον-"of the same craft"; ἠργάζετο is the imperfect of ἐργάζομαι and it's middle-passive in form; σκηνοποιός = tent-maker, and τῇ τέχνῃ is apparently a dative of respect ("by trade").

It is not possible for me to include everything that Craig Keener (Acts: An Exegetical Commentary, Vol. 3) writes about Acts 18:3, but here is a brief portion: "Although many have traditionally translated the term σκηνοποιός as 'tentmaker,' the etymological sense that one might guess for it, more recent scholarship has inclined toward the patristic view that Paul and Aquila were 'leatherworkers.' The term is rare (nowhere else in the NT or the LXX), but its etymological interpretation should not be pressed against the interpretation of ancient authors who knew living Koine. John Chrysostom, Origen, and all the earliest fathers take it as 'leatherworker'; most medieval interpreters understood the term etymologically as 'tentmaker,' but they believed the tents were made of leather. On any of these views, Paul could have ministered while at work."

Ben Witherington III (The Acts of the Apostles): "That Paul practiced the same trade and shared the same religious background as Aquila and Priscilla would have made them a natural contact as well. V. 3 tells us that by trade they were σκνηνοποιοι, which in its most basic sense means tentmakers, but the term could have the wider sense of leatherworkers. It is possible that cilicium is what Paul made, a cloth made of goats’ hair, for this was one of the chief products made in Paul’s native region of Cilicia, but this is far from certain. It is probably safer to take the Greek term in its generic sense of tentmaker."

See https://www.jstor.org/stable/27638405?seq=6#metadata_info_tab_contents