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Playhouse’s new production spotlights the world of competitive air guitar
Tennessee Tech University’s Backdoor Playhouse will explore the surprising world of competitive air guitar in their newest production, “Airness” by Chelsea Marcantel, which begins playing on Thursday, March 31.
The story follows Nina who enters her first air guitar competition confident that she’ll take first place – she is, after all, an actual guitar player. However, she soon finds out there’s more to the competition than just pretending to strum invisible strings.
“The script was suggested to me by a former student,” said Mark Creter, director. “She sent me a copy of the script and said, ‘This is a Backdoor Playhouse show.’ And I love that former students who, despite the fact they're now off working in other theaters, they still fondly remember the Backdoor Playhouse and still stay in touch.”
When Creter read the script for “Airness,” he fully agreed that the show would be perfect for the Backdoor stage. The environment of rock and roll music and air guitar competitions set a backdrop for a story that’s not only funny and entertaining, but also touches on larger themes, such as chasing your dreams and surrounding yourself with people who understand you.
“I love this idea of sort-of finding your tribe, which is something I talk to my students about all the time,” Creter said. “When you're really passionate about something, you speak about it in a way that might be a little different from other people. So, you find that tribe. You find the people that you resonate with. For me, theater people were my people.”
“Airness” features Tech students and community actors Aaron Ramsey, Aaron Ross,
Cory Goavec, Ashley Hale, Chloe White, Ronnie Stegall and Robert Olson. To help them
prepare for their roles, another Tech student and a guitar player himself, David Cheek
came in to help the actors learn how to play the air guitar more realistically.
“He brought his electric guitar into rehearsals and they actually got to practice holding a real guitar,” Creter said. “And then he played and they practiced mirroring him. I don't play guitar myself but I have played air guitar for years,” he joked. “So, I can definitely relate to that desire to want to shred and not really have the actual legit ability.”
This show will be the 32nd supported in part by the Annual Dorothy Printz Pennebaker Memorial Fund. The fund is named for the English instructor who founded the official drama club of Tennessee Tech in 1954.
“I love that idea that we do a production that is dedicated to the memory of the woman who really set the path for the Tech Players,” Creter said. “She was their first faculty advisor. She was the one who secured the use of the then-library auditorium to do the show. And I just think it's so neat that every spring we are able to do a show that's in her memory.”
“Airness” will run at 8 p.m. on March 31 and April 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 8 and 9; with additional showings at 10 p.m. April 7, and 2 p.m. April 9. Ticket prices are $15 general admission, $12 senior citizens, and $5 students (university, college, and high school).
For more information, visit https://www.tntech.edu/bdph/.
