Tyler Calhoun, who just graduated with an MA in Interpretation and Performance Studies. Tyler was also a graduate assistant who worked in both the scene shop for EMU theater and taught a section of Foundations of Speech Comm. His fondest moment in grad school came after his first performance in the course Performing the Self, taught by Professor Jessica 'Decky' Alexander. “You embody a memory through the performance to display its significance to the audience, and Decky’s support after the performance gave me this, I’m home feeling.” Tyler also credits his fellow CMTA Graduate Students for his success in grad school, “Without the support of that group I wouldn’t have gotten through grad school, but that’s how you do it. By looking out for each other”.

After graduating from EMU, Tyler started a new podcast called Life in Theater, which aims to shine a light on everyday artists. An extension of his graduate schoolwork, Tyler wants the podcast to break open people’s conceptions of performance by highlighting things that aren’t typically what one would consider traditional theater. “When people think of theater, often their first thoughts go to things like Broadway, and I used to think the same way. But grad school changed me as an artist. My view of theater was limited at first, but it happens every day, and at all times. If you boil any of it down to its essence, we are all storytellers.”