James Lyle Alder
Scenic Design
James Lyle Alder (Scenic Designer) is the Facilities Manager and Scene Shop Foreperson of the Backdoor Playhouse, on the campus of Tennessee Tech. He was trained by a roster of veteran scenic artists, and apprenticed in the design and construction of over a dozen sets. During that time, James also served in many disparate roles for various academic, community and professional productions, including as Lighting Designer, Master Carpenter, Scenic Designer, Electrician, Stage Manager, and as a Producer—in addition to occasionally gracing the stage as an actor. He designed his first set at age seventeen, for his high school forensic team’s production of Arsenic and Old Lace—in which he also played “Mr. Witherspoon.” James is a theatre artist, a local polemicist and an activist involved in a multitude of initiatives focusing on the impoverished, the unhoused, and the incarcerated.