A recent graduate of The Overlake School in Redmond, Sam Tilles is a founder and the only Eastside board member of the Seattle-based Young Americans’ Theatre Company (YATC).
To open its second season, YATC will produce a One-Act Festival from July 23-26, including an original work by Tilles, called “Dissonance.”
And from July 31-Aug. 9, YATC will stage “Burn” by renowned British author Deborah Gearing, with Tilles in the lead role of Birdman.
Tilles has been active in drama since seventh grade at The Overlake School. His performances there included “Arabian Nights” and “Once on this Island,” which was nominated by the 5th Avenue Theatre for outstanding high school musical.
He participated in the 2006 Young Actor Institute at Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT) and in the summer of 2007, performed in “Stargirl” at SCT. Tilles next starred in “Women and Wallace” at YATC in summer 2008. And this past April, he represented the Pacific Northwest in The English-Speaking Union of the United States’ National Shakespeare Competition in New York City.
When does Tilles find time to breathe? And what pushes him toward acting, directing and writing for the stage?
He laughed and said the journey’s been chaotic but exciting. With regard to YATC, “We’d been saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if …?’ We were frustrated with Seattle theater because it was solely for making money, not relevant to what teens think or care about — a lot of cutesy theater that doesn’t propel society anywhere. What little relevant theater is produced is zero percent relevant to teenagers. There is barely any theater that makes them employable.”
Plus, Tilles stated, “We wanted to make teens see what’s great about theater, that it’s not boring, not just for rich adults.”
He said his non-actor friends at The Overlake School were pleasantly surprised when they came to see him in “Women and Wallace,” a show about a young man coping with his mother’s suicide.
YATC tackles subjects which some might consider dark or mature, in terms of teen audiences. For instance, “Dissonance,” which Tilles wrote for his senior project at Overlake, is about religious conflict and its role in society.
“The problem needed to be addressed, get people provoked,” he explained.
In “Burn,” Tilles’ character, Birdman, is the only person who stands by a girl who’s been raped.
“The rape doesn’t happen onstage,” he noted. “The female character, Linda, played by Sydney Tucker, doesn’t tell her mom what happened and other friends don’t support her. It’s kind of a coming-of-age story, about social values and how teens react to trauma,” Tilles elaborated.
As an interesting side note, Redmond High School (RHS) student Thomas Moore and RHS graduate Jeffrey Hayes will also appear in “Burn” at YATC.
Reminiscing about his senior year of high school, Tilles said the National Shakespeare Competition was an unforgettable experience.
His teacher at Overlake, Sarah Fitzpatrick, encouraged him to try out. He made it through auditions at his own school level and then in Seattle, before he was chosen to go to New York.
“I was there for three days. That was a blast,” he recalled. “I performed at Lincoln Center, toured Julliard and saw ‘Waiting for Godot’ with Nathan Lane and John Goodman, some of my favorite actors. My favorite part was meeting with other actors with the same ambition. It was humbling, to say the least. There’s a lot of talent out there.”
Although he didn’t make the top 10 in the National Shakespeare Competition, Tilles said he wasn’t there just to win but to learn. “They sent me a critique and pictures. I got almost perfect marks,” he commented. Judges included actor Gene Wilder and professors and directors from high-profile universities and theaters on the East coast.
In late August, Tilles heads to Boston University, to pursue a bachelor of fine arts degree in acting. He said his parents support his dreams but “have been very hands-off, had me do most of the work.”
His dad, a doctor, is “a little skeptical and would have like me to have a back-up plan. Of course, he’s coming from a math and science background,” said Tilles.
His mom “is all for it. She claims she was responsible. She was an English teacher and read Shakespeare to me before I was born.”
Also a musician — he’s played drums since second grade and has a band called Ending Affair — Tilles hopes to stay involved with YATC while he’s away at college or at least to be a mentor for other teens who are passionate about drama.
“It’s called Young Americans’ Theatre Company for a reason. We want to keep the mission statement about kids,” he concluded.
This summer’s venue for YATC will be the Live Girls! Theatre in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. For information about performances and tickets, e-mail youngamericanstheatre@gmail.com, visit Brown Paper Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com or visit YATC’s Facebook page.
