Hi, I’m Beki Baker.  

I’m an educator, director, and producer in Nashville, Tennessee. I’m the Chair of Theatre at Lipscomb University and a tenured Associate Professor. 

My husband and I met at our alma mater, Baylor University, where I received my M.F.A. in Directing. We’ve been in Nashville since 2009, working in academia and freelance professional work. We have three beautiful children and a pocketful of dreams.

My professional directing credits at Nashville Repertory Theatre include 9 to 5 the Musical and A Christmas Carol for their main stage, The Revolutionists for their RepALOUD series, and Together We are Making a Poem in Honor of Life, Showing, Pattern Seeking Animals, The Very Last Wishes of Grandpa Joe, The Second Avenue Subway, and BloodSuckingLeech for their Ingram New Works Festival. This spring I will direct BloodSuckingLeech for their MainStage season.

I have also directed Steel Magnolias and Driving Miss Daisy at Studio Tenn Theatre Company, and Julius Caesar (starring Eddie George) and Shakespeare’s Case at the Nashville Shakespeare Festival. My Blackbird Theater Company directing credits include Man & Superman and The Crucible. I directed Broadway star Eden Espinosa in a staged concert of Tarzan for Disney Theatricals as well as Tony Award Nominee Elizabeth A. Davis in Tomorrow at Tablerock Repertory Theatre.

At Lipscomb University, I have directed The Pajama Game, Pride’s Crossing, The Glass Menagerie, Much Ado about Nothing, Dancing at Lughnasa, She Loves Me, Silent Sky, Bright Star, Mamma Mia, Pride & Prejudice, Ada and the Engine, Little Women and Matilda. Reviews for shows mentioned above can be found on my “reviews” page.

I’ve received the First Night Star Award, First Night Outstanding Director of a Musical Award (three times), and several BroadwayWorld Best Director nominations. I have received two Excellence in Directing awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, and have been nominated for the Outstanding Professor Award at Lipscomb University three times. In 2021, I received the Dean’s Award of Excellence, and in 2022, I was awarded tenure. I’m also a five-year cancer survivor (boo-yah!).

I love theatre for what it offers in community, empathy, and immediacy. Theatre can be a transformative experience for both those creating it and for those with whom it is shared. My directing philosophy is that excellent process drives excellent product. I believe that people thrive in an environment that fosters the opportunity to explore and take risks. When trust is present, creativity blooms. Oh, and it’s gotta be fun, too. We certainly ain’t doing it for the money.

Photo by Shelby Mick