Comedy Musical At First Congregational Church Tackles Childhood Trauma

He has been a featured solo pianist at Carnegie Hall, an opening speaker for First Lady of the United States Barbara Bush, and has served as a music director-arranger for live telecasts at Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s PTL Club.

Even with all of that success, for much of Tyler's life the most dominant characteristic of his identity was the sadistic sexual abuse he suffered as a minor. It defined him and saddled him with all kinds of issues that threatened his mental health, his spiritual wellbeing and his ability to connect with others as friends, lovers or even within his family. Tyler eventually got the help he needed before he hit rock bottom and took his own life. Tyler is an advocate for all survivors and is a member of the Speakers Bureau of RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network). Tyler tapped into the traumatic experiences of his past to create this show full of humor, music and hope.

Tyler has been working on the show with a very close friend, director Mark Millhone, for four years. The show was actually scheduled to open but that opening was delayed by two years due to COVID. That gave Tyler and Millhone time to refine the show and make it even more relatable. The show deals deftly with very tough and gritty topics by employing humor, music and even puppets.

Tyler and Millhone met at RAINN. Millhone was impressed at the audaciousness of Tyler's dream to use stand up comedy to talk about childhood sexual trauma and the stigma surrounding people who admit to having mental health problems. Tyler, accomplished in the music world as a writer and composer, at that time had no stand up comedy experience. So Tyler worked towards his dream by taking a stand up comedy class with one of the most well known teachers in the business. With the support Tyler received from that teacher he began working on a routine that revolved around his childhood experiences and their consequences. It was when he started working with Millhone that the routine began to be fleshed out as a full show.

Now that show is getting its premiere at Long Beach's oldest church, the unabashedly liberal First Congregational Church of Long Beach. The church has a resident theater company, Landmark Theatre, that performs plays related to social justice, so Tyler premiering his show at First Congregational is a natural fit.

The "Trying To Be Normal Is Driving Me Crazy!" performance is at no charge, though free will offerings will be received. The performance is Saturday August 20, 2022 at 4PM. First Congregational Church of Long Beach is located in downtown at the corner of 3rd and Cedar. The address is 241 Cedar Avenue 90802.