Growing up, Tyler Joseph Ellis, PHS ’16, spent many Friday nights sipping 7 Up and watching “The Sound of Music”, “Annie” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” at his grandparents’ house in Piedmont. These classic musicals sparked his love for theater, but at the time, the idea of performing on stage terrified him. Little did he know, years later, he would be touring the country in “Shucked”, a Tony Award-winning musical comedy.
During its first year of tour, Shucked will hit more than 30 cities, including San Francisco for almost a month of performances at the Curran Theatre from Sept. 9 to Oct. 5, 2025. By then, Ellis will have been playing the role of Storyteller 2 for almost a year. The tour launched last October, following Shucked’s successful run on Broadway that ended in January 2024.
“What makes the show so incredible is this funny, funny, funny, funny, funny plot and amazing country musical theater score,” Ellis said.
In the show, Ellis and his fellow storyteller serve as narrators, introducing the audience to the fictional world of Cobb County, a place that “runs on corn.” They share the story of a woman who leaves her small town to understand why their beloved corn is dying, “and, of course, hilarity ensues,” Ellis said.
Long before he was Storyteller 2, Ellis grew up in the Piedmont arts scene. His acting journey began in fifth grade at Wildwood Elementary School when he played one of two Robin Hoods in Phong Ung’s class production. However, his love of theater truly took off at PHS.
“As soon as I took Acting 1 with Kim Taylor and auditioned for “Oklahoma!”, directed and choreographed by Amy Moorhead, that is when I found out that I loved it as much as I thought I would,” Ellis said. “It was the most amazing outlet. It became my entire personality very quickly.”
He took Taylor’s advanced acting classes, performed in many of Moorhead’s musicals and joined the Youth Musical Theater Company (now called Korsa Musical Theater). He also won the 50th annual bird calling contest in 2015 with fellow PHS ‘16 grad Maret Sotkiewicz.
“I wanted to be in the theater as much as possible,” Ellis said. “It was a safe haven for me.” Ellis went on to study theater and marketing at USC and continued his “trajectory of being as busy as humanly possible.” That all came to a halt when he graduated in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. Ellis said he was “trying to get [his] career off the ground,” but shows were at a standstill.
Ellis realized he needed another outlet. He downloaded TikTok as a joke at first, making videos just for friends, but when he began sharing theater-related content, his account took off. His TikTok now has more than 340,000 followers.
“I found an entire community of other theater kids that were struggling the same way I was,” Ellis said.
Ellis’s hilarious videos started gaining traction beyond the theater community and in the fall of 2022, he moved to New York to pursue content creation. Ellis also took on other odd jobs, including interviewing people on Broadway red carpets and conducting press interviews for Broadway shows.
When Shucked previewed on Broadway, Ellis attended as part of a brand deal. During intermission, Ellis met Tony Award winner Robert Horn, Shucked’s book writer. He complimented Ellis’s videos.
“I knew it was about corn—that’s all I knew,” Ellis said. “And then I saw it in previews and fell madly in love with the show in the first act.”
The Cast of The North American Tour of SHUCKED (Photo credit: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman) 
The Cast of The North American Tour of SHUCKED (Photo credit: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
Ellis saw “Shucked” six times and became enamored with Storyteller 2. When auditions for the national tour came around, Ellis said he “prepared harder than [he] had for any other audition” and went in completely off-book for the scene work and songs. After a few rounds of callbacks, he landed the role.
Now, he is touring the country by plane and bus and performing in places like Chicago, Illinois, and Des Moines, Iowa, which he finds incredibly gratifying.
“We opened the show in Nashville the day after the election,” Ellis said. “It’s very ever-present that laughter and joy are paramount to our survival right now. I didn’t really expect this, but I do feel a profound sense of duty and purpose doing the show every day, despite it being so silly. To make audiences laugh together in unity has been very, very rewarding.”
Ellis credits his upbringing in Piedmont’s arts community for getting him to where he is today. He said that Piedmont’s funding and support for the arts were vital in fueling his passion for theater and launching his career.
“I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Piedmont’s resources,” he said. “I give Kim Taylor and Amy Moorhead so much credit for not only my journey but so many journeys of people who either are still doing this professionally or not. You take those skills with you regardless of where you are.”