Behind the Screen Door notes

The first thing that struck me about Behind the Screen Door is that, in fact, a screen door is never mentioned. The subject of doors in theater is discussed profusely, but not screen doors. This may just be a random observation, but I think it holds a meaning all its own. The speaker describes doors as thresholds between the known and the unknown, our world and others. But what about a screen door? A screen door, by its very nature, is transparent, is made to let in light and keep out only select things. If doors are barriers/entryways between everything, what does it say that a door is not a solid, if openable, gateway, but merely a screen, a translucent, fragile thing separating everything else from our immediate surroundings. Besides being a technological race, we humans have doors by our nature. We are neither fully social nor fully solitary, we mate and befriend and move away, social transients whose living arrangements and acquaintances are as odd and irregular as a clock made of tapioca pudding. So we must have barriers, but ones that can be opened on a whim. The door is only a screen though. It may keep out bugs and the weakest of critters, but provides no real protection, as flimsy as it is. What use is a screen door in theater then? A door is meant for an actor to enter or exit, while hiding what is beyond, whether it be a messy backstage or an alternate universe. If it is only a screen door, the sense of mystery is lost, the role of door being a threshold to the unknown is rendered moot by one simply squinting through the screen.