Know a Beard. Love a Beard: Tyler Mills

We’ve made it all the way to the second, “Know a Beard. Love a Beard.” I’m pretty excited about that, and not just because I really like Tyler…but I do.

Tyler Mills. One of our two Tylers, but generally the most “Honest Abe” like of the two. I don’t think I personally know anyone that is more competent on such a wide variety of subjects. From theater to sports to movies to video games to random crap on the internet. The list goes on. This guy is such a wealth of information, I’m constantly in awe. I think that’s one of the main reasons that people that know him, love him. He can talk with you about anything, with an amazing amount of depth and insightfulness.

As an actor/improvisor, he’s always there for you. His characters always make the scene more rich, even if they don’t say much or simply pull out a gun and kill you in the end. He’s a natural born storyteller. It’s how I know I can always count on Tyler to tie back to things in our stories that we or the audience may have forgotten. Mills always finds those little nuggets and polishes them into gold right before the audiences eyes. I credit a lot of those moments to when audience members think we’ve scripted things beforehand. He’s been a such a rock of support as we’ve built the group here in Minneapolis, from shows in coffee shops to advertising on the streets of Uptown with fake beards on, he’s been there.

Being a natural born storyteller, it’s no surprise that this guy is a playwright, and a damn good one at that. His writing is so unique and wonderful, you just can’t help but get wrapped up in it when you see his work on stage. Most recently, he wrote the book for “Jonah and the Whale”, produced by 7th House Theater, and played in the Dowling Studio at the Guthrie. Amazing.

Tyler Mills is a quiet storm, in the best way possible. I feel like his already great talents are just on the edge of something bigger and are going to explode out into the world. The Twin Cities arts scene is lucky to have this guy. The praise he has gotten thus far is not even close to what I know he will get in the future. Having Mills as a part of the Bearded Men and as a friend is a privilege that I am fortunate to have.