Tyler Thomas has worked in over 20 communities to support creative teams in the design of bold, participatory experiences that invite audiences into transformative relationships with art, ideas, and one another.
A recipient of the Susan Stroman Directing Award and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award (2025), her work has evolved from creating new theatrical works across the U.S. to designing and executing large-scale, civic arts initiatives that leverage creative practice to strengthen communities.
Her acclaimed project series, Lessons in Survival and Lessons in Survival: 1971, created in collaboration with New York theater collective The Commissary, brought together a cohort of over 20 actors to re-stage seminal Black interviews, conversations, and speeches from the 1960s–80s, in which the actors listened to the original broadcasts via an in-ear feed, performing, in real time, what they heard verbatim. Developed and produced by the Vineyard Theatre, the productions were heralded as “gripping” (The New Yorker), earning two New York Times Critics’ Picks.
As an Associate Director, Tyler’s creative collaborations span theater, opera, and live music across the United States and Canada, supporting the work of renowned artists including Kaneza Schaal, Tanya Tagaq, Taibi Magar, Claudia Rankine, Anna Deavere Smith, Whitney White, and Lear deBessonet.
As the Associate Artistic Director for Arts for EveryBody, Tyler helped to architect and execute one of the largest national arts and health initiatives in recent U.S. history, supporting 18 cities across the country in creating 18 large-scale public art projects designed to improve community wellbeing. Presently, Tyler serves as Artistic Director of the We Shall Someday Project – a community-engaged, mobile theatrical tour of the musical We Shall Someday, amplifying under-known civil rights history through dynamic partnerships with local cultural, educational, and civic partners in cities along the 1961 Freedom Riders route.
Tyler has been a Visiting Artist at the Athens Conservatoire in Greece, and Guest Artist at UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, and NYU Tisch. She holds a BFA in Drama and MA in Art and Public Policy from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Photo: Jackie Abbott
Tyler Thomas 