After graduating from the University of Southern California’s acting program just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, third-generation Piedmonter Tyler Joseph Ellis began making Tik Tok videos skewering the acting life.
The videos turned out to strike a nerve, garnering millions of views. While also appearing in shows like “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” Ellis’s online fame continued to grow, eventually capturing the attention of the producers of the Tony Award-winnning hit Broadway musical comedy “Shucked.”
The producers then hired Ellis to produce offbeat videos promoting the show. This led to him auditioning for and landing the role of “Storyteller Two” in the now-touring production of “Shucked,” a tale of one small town’s unique relationship with corn. The Bay Area News Group caught up with Ellis recently at the show’s Tucson stop to reminisce about his days as a drama kid with the Piedmont High School Highlanders.
Q. How did your interest in acting develop?
A. My best friend had an older sister that was pretty significantly older than him, so she was in high school when we were in elementary and middle school, and she was part of the (Piedmont High) acting program led by Kim Taylor. And so I grew up seeing the plays that Piedmont does, and they are heavy hitters: “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Osage County,” some really tough shows.
And I remember watching them as if they were Broadway-caliber shows. I was so impressed. I grew up seeing the musicals as well, so I remember seeing “Grease.” I was just a kid and thought, “Oh my God, I can’t believe that these full-grown adults — of course, they were just high-schoolers— are putting on this caliber show.”
I was freaking out. So I think the Piedmont High School theater culture was always very top-of-the-line for me. Leading up to high school I was like, “I’m going to do the acting program.” And I did.
Q. What was one of your more memorable high school roles?
A. I think the thing that a lot of people remember was that I was Red McCormick in “Footloose the Musical” when I was a junior. That was at the Alan Harvey Theater, and I was also the star in the play in my senior year, “A Servant of Two Masters.” I was playing “Truffaldino” in that production, which was just so much fun.
I just recently found out there was a recording of it and watched it only a few months ago, and it just warmed my heart. I was like, “Hey, there he is.” I see glimmers of who I am today as a performer when I was in high school, but I did a lot of shows there. First musical I did was “Oklahoma,” then “Anything Goes” and then I did a fair amount of plays.
Q. When you pursued acting growing up, did you run into a lot of people telling you it’s going to be impossible?
A. I spent my high school career, of course, doing it, but part of the reason I was doing it so much was I was looking for an excuse not to love it. I was like, “How do I not fall in love with this and then end up not having to study this in college?” Piedmont touts itself as a very high-level education environment, and I was a great student. I loved doing everything.
So when theater came around and I loved it so much, I was just waiting for an excuse to be like, “No, I definitely don’t want to study it in college. But by the time I was ending my junior year and approaching my senior year, I was just like, “Who am I kidding? This is the thing.” And it’s very rare as a high schooler to know your path so clearly before even graduating high school. And I was like, “You know what? If it crashes and burns, I at least will never have the feeling of never trying.”
And then I’m talking to you now in Tucson, Arizona, doing kind of my dream job. So it can happen. You kind of have to take what everyone says — “that’d be a really hard life” — and let that fuel you to be more steadfast in your decision. Of course, there’s days where I’m like, “I could have been in finance,” but I just feel so lucky to be able to call this my job.
Q. Is it like a calling that you can’t ignore?
A.Yeah. And I think if you choose to ignore it, it’s not going to stop calling you.
Q. Is “Shucked” bringing blue and red states together?
A: On the first day of rehearsal, [Director] Jack O’Brien said, “Right now is an important time to do a comedy.” There’s actually a higher purpose to doing it because regardless of who the person next to you voted for, they will be involuntarily exhaling at the same time as you because they find something funny. And what happens when you find something funny? You look to the person to your left and to your right and you’re nodding.
And it’s a very communal experience. And the show always has, in my opinion, a lot of queer sensibility just by virtue of all three of its writers and its director, (who) are all queer people. I think it feels very apolitical, but the messaging is very much like what happens when you accept people for their differences and love them anyway.
San Francisco’s Curran Theater will present the Tony award-winning musical comedy “Shucked” from Sept. 9 through Oct. 5. For more information visit shuckedmusical.com online.
Paul Kilduff is a San Francisco-based writer who also draws cartoons. He can be reached at pkilduff350@gmail.com.