If there is such a thing as a born theater kid, Ocean Beach native Tyler Tafolla is it. His mom coordinated a local theater company in San Diego, and his dad directed and produced his own TV shows on local public station KPBS.

Tyler always wanted to be in musical theater, and when on a birthday trip to New York he visited a college he’d heard about (AMDA, the American Musical and Dramatic Academy), he reports that he was “hooked.” He immediately signed up, and one of the results from his time in the Los Angeles location – “Scott Robbins and the Traveling Show” – was just performed at Diversionary Theatre.

Set in 1935 in the Great Plains, the musical comedy written and directed by Tafolla is the story of a young man on the run who pretends he’s a magician in order to work with a traveling circus. Eight actors play more than 100 roles. The cast includes Kelly Prendergast, Shaun Conde, Jordan Brownlee, Cameron Blankenship, Anna Duchi, Isabella Pruter and Russell Clements. A real traveling show, this wild and crazy musical played for one weekend in San Diego after success in New York, Los Angeles, Thousand Oaks and in podcast form.

A second musical called “Seasons: A New Musical Song-Cycle” was produced in New York, and a concept album was released on Broadway Records. He reports that this – and his willingness to take chances – have made him a jack-of-all-theatrical-trades. He’s taken a stab at producing and directing as well as writing and performing.

COVID put a crimp in his style as it has affected all of us, but he reports that he learned a valuable lesson even from that: though we can’t always control circumstances, we have the choice of where to go from here.

There’s no telling where this will lead Tyler Tafolla, but it’s certain that he will keep on making theater.