Hi, I’m Beki Baker.  

I’m an educator, director, and producer living and working in Nashville, Tennessee. I’m the Chair of Theatre at Lipscomb University, and a tenured Associate Professor. My husband, Scott, is the Director of Marketing and Recruiting for the College of Entertainment and the Arts, and together we work to connect Lipscomb and Nashville via the arts.

Scott and I met at our alma mater, Baylor University, where I received my M.F.A. in Directing (2009) and B.F.A. in Performance (2004). We’ve been in Nashville since 2009, working in both academia and freelance professional work. We have three children and a pocketful of dreams.

My directing credits at the Nashville Repertory Theatre include A Christmas Carol for their main stage, The Revolutionists for the 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, and The Second Avenue Subway for their Ingram New Works Festival. I directed Steel Magnolias at Studio Tenn, 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 the National Association for Music Education 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, and Pride & Prejudice.

I’ve received the First Night Star Award, First Night Outstanding Director of a Musical Award, and several BroadwayWorld Best Director nominations. I have received two Excellence in Directing awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, and I have been nominated for the Outstanding Professor Award at Lipscomb University three times. In 2021, I received the Dean’s Award of Excellence. Recently, I was one of the recipients of the 2021 First Night Outstanding Director Award.

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 personal directing philosophy: 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 credit Shelby Mick.