Tyler is a freelance Director and Professor of Acting/Directing at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. Before arriving back in Wisconsin to begin teaching (he was born and raised in Ripon, Wisconsin) Tyler lived in New York City where he was working as a freelance director. In addition to his freelance work, Tyler also served as the Associate Artistic Director at the multiple award-winning Off-Broadway Theatre Primary Stages in NYC. His work on new plays led him to Primary Stages where he worked with playwrights such as Terrence McNally, Horton Foote, Stephen Belber, John Henry Redwood, A.R. Gurney, Lee Blessing, Michele Lowe, Christopher Durang and many others. Other New York directing work includes several productions, workshops, and readings of new plays by Neil LaBute, Edwin Sanchez, Stephen Belber, Steven Dietz, Victor Ladato, Julia Jordan, Dan O'Brien, Anthony Clarvoe, and Lucy Thurber among others.
Tyler directed the World Premiere of Freud's Last Session at Barrington Stage Company (where it became the longest running show in the theatre’s history) before it made its commercial Off-Broadway transfer. The production received rave reviews making many year-end Top Ten Lists as well as garnering Tyler a Joe A. Callaway Outstanding Directing Nomination from the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. The production transferred to New York where it ran for nearly 800 performances and won “Best Play” by the Off-Broadway Theatre Alliance. The play had a commercial run at the Mercury Theatre in Chicago (Jeff Award nomination for “Best Play Production”) and in Los Angeles (starring Judd Hirsch and Tom Cavanaugh). Tyler also directed Reykjavik by Pulitzer winner Richard Rhodes for the Ministers of the United Nations. The production starred Richard Easton and Jay O. Sanders and included a video address by Mikhail Gorbachev. Tyler has also worked with Tony and Oscar award winning playwright Sir Peter Shaffer on his play Gift of the Gorgon to develop the script for a North American premiere.
During his tenure at Primary Stages, Tyler was the Director of the Dorthy Strelsin New American Writer's Group where he worked with writers to develop and create new plays for the American Theatre. Tyler has worked at theatres such as Primary Stages, Alley Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Guthrie Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Madison Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Trustus. Tyler directed British playwright Gary Owen's The Drowned World and Michael Wynne's The People are Friendly as part of the Old Vic/New Voices international playwright exchange in conjunction with the Old Vic in London. He also served as the Associate Director of the Broadway production of On Golden Pond starring James Earl Jones and Leslie Uggams, as well as the national tour starring Tom Bosley and Michael Learned. He directed the World Premiere of India Awaiting at the Samuel Beckett theatre in NYC and the World Premiere of Prudence, at Connecticut Repertory Theatre. While at Primary Stages, Tyler had the privilege of working with many actors including Isabella Rossellini, Richard Thomas, Nathan Lane, Marian Seldes, Charles Kimbrough, Charles Grodin, Sandy Duncan, Mary Testa, Ellen MCClaughlin, George Grizzard, among others. In addition, Tyler served as the Vice-President of the Association of Non-Profit Theatres Companies (ANTC) in New York City, and received the prestigious Doris Duke/Andrew W. Mellon/TCG "New Generations Grant" to aid and assist his work in the non-profit theatre sector.
Tyler has received a commission from Williamstown Theatre Festival to co-conceive and direct a new play with playwright Dan O'Brien. Other favorite productions include the World Premiere of the musical Anne of Green Gables (by Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer) at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in NYC, Cloud 9 at Pennsylvania Center Stage, Jeffrey Hatcher's A Picasso and Lee Bleesing’s Going to St. Ives at Barrington Stage Company, Outside Mullingar at Forward Theatre and ART at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.
At the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, Tyler teaches courses in Directing, Acting, Playwriting and the capstone Senior Showcase (where he takes graduating BFA Acting and Musical Theatre students to NYC to audition for casting directors and agents). At UWSP, Tyler has directed the World Premiere of 40 Days by Laura Eason (House of Cards, former Artistic Director of Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago), his free-wheeling adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull, entitled The Seagull: Rehearsed as well as many other plays and musicals. Tyler received his M.F.A. in Directing at the University of South Carolina, and is a member of SDC.
