Female directors bring creative vision to Tech’s Backdoor Playhouse
Stage productions at Tennessee Tech University’s Backdoor Playhouse are being guided by women whose artistic leadership is helping shape the university’s theatre program while mentoring the next generation of performers.
While women have long been central to theatre as performers and educators, directing roles have historically been dominated by men – but three women at Tech are changing that for the university. Directors Prudence van Aalten, Wendy Mullen and Eleni Fragopoulos are helping bring a range of stories to life while guiding students through the collaborative process of stage production.
For van Aalten, who most recently directed this spring’s production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, directing grew naturally from her background as an actor.
“I came to directing through acting. It’s beneficial because you understand the process actors go through. Sometimes you must be uncomfortable and get to know yourself in different ways, and having done that myself on stage, I can help student actors do the same,” she explained.
van Aalten first became involved with the Backdoor Playhouse as an actor shortly after moving to Cookeville from New York City. Her performance in a local production led to opportunities to teach and direct at Tech.
“I like teaching Intro to Theatre because it made me realize how much I love the entire craft of theatre,” she said. "That includes not just the acting, but the sets, the costumes, the makeup, the lighting and the many other subtleties that serve to create the proper atmosphere and prime the audience’s experience."
When selecting a production to direct, van Aalten said she must feel a strong personal connection to it.
“I have to love the entire play more than I love any single character. I must love it more than I want to be in it,” she said. “I have to love it so much that I still want to be involved.”
Mullen, a School of Music faculty member who recently directed Into the Woods, brings a background in musical performance and voice instruction to her directing work. Before arriving at Tech, she spent 17 years at another institution teaching private voice, serving as music director for musicals and directing scenes classes.
At Tech, she has been instrumental in helping to build the university’s music theatre concentration, now in its fourth year. Students in the program gain hands-on experience through productions and a senior internship with the nearby Cumberland County Playhouse.
But directing a musical presents unique challenges compared with staging a traditional play, she said.
“A musical is a bit more restricted in a way, but it can still be very creative,” she said. “You’re thinking about the music, the choreography, the set design and the space all at once. It’s a huge community effort.”
Musical productions, for instance, are more likely to involve large casts and extensive collaboration among faculty, staff and students. With a musical director, choreographer and more, musical theatre requires roles other productions don’t.
“Every note and interlude has reasons,” she said. “You’re helping students understand what their characters are thinking and feeling through the music. In turn, they pass that ability on to the audience.”
For Mullen, one of the greatest rewards is watching students grow and succeed after their time at Tech.
“We want them to have opportunities beyond Tennessee Tech. That’s the whole point,” she said, and it’s one of the reasons the senior intern partnership with the Cumberland County Playhouse was formalized.
Fragopoulos, an adjunct instructor at Tech and theatre teacher at Cumberland County High School, will direct the Backdoor Playhouse’s final spring production, Rumors by playwright Neil Simon.
The fast-paced comedy, opening April 16, centers on a group of affluent couples whose evening spirals into chaos as they attempt to cover up a mysterious incident at a dinner party.
Together, the three directors represent the collaborative spirit that drives the Backdoor Playhouse and its productions.
“For both male and female directors, theatre is about sharing the human experience with the audience. I don’t get the sense that as women we bring anything different to that role than men do,” Mullen said.
Despite that, van Aalten said she’s aware of being a woman in a male-dominated role.
“I want to use that influence to promote women playwrights because I know, historically, they haven’t had as much of a voice as their male counterparts,” she said. “However, most of my personal mentors in theatre have been men. [Tech Professor of Theatre] Mark Creter is a wonderful supporter and mentor. He gave me the opportunity to teach, and I’m so grateful for that.”
Ultimately, the directors say their work succeeds when it sparks conversation beyond the stage.
“A production is a gift we are giving to the audience, and the audience should leave just a little bit changed by the performance,” van Aalten said.
Mullen said she is excited about the future of Tech’s theatre program.
“I love the momentum I’m seeing right now with all of us. We’re able to build onto a strong program that has been a vital part of our campus for years and take it to its next chapter,” she said.