Into the tablework: Schweitzer acting from the mind, heart

It is presumptuous to think that all actors dive in headfirst––or should I say break a leg without a second thought? For Coppell High School senior Tyler Schweitzer, theater is far more technical, tactful and thoughtful. 

Schweitzer pauses not with resignation, but duty before replying to my first question; because, in part, he is rehearsed. He recognizes theater as an art, that just as much must go into the leg work as it does beneath stage lights.

Alongside the Cowboy Theatre Company, Schweitzer utilizes a technique dubbed “Character Therapy” by head director Lisa Stucker in order to embody the stories he tells. He jokes that, essentially, the process is one of embracing your “lizard brain,” or the simplest form of human desires, motivations and conditions. 

“What it comes down to is making the character a real person, giving them real actions to achieve what they want and getting into why they are who they are,” Schweitzer said. “It’s sort of like that teacher in the back of your mind that’s always asking “but why, but why?” As you go down the rabbit hole, you start to see why these characters continue to take the actions that they do, and it’s a process that can be applied to something as serious as Hamlet or something as silly as Aladdin Jr.”

Having portrayed Father in the fall production of “Eurydice,” Sam Carmichael in the spring musical “Mamma Mia!” and Jack Worthing in the UIL competition piece “The Importance of Being Earnest” within the school year,  Schweitzer reaches deep within his toolbox of vast emotions to etch swaths of paper with notes of his several roles. 

“The thought that Tyler puts behind his characters is very invoking,” said CHS senior Lauren Beach, who plays Sophie alongside Schweitzer’s Sam. “At the end of the day that thoughtfulness builds up to being able to read his every move on stage. Just being there with Tyler and watching him play Sam, I can read the expressions on his face and what he’s thinking, and if I’m able to do that, as an actor, then I know that our audience can as well.”

During Schweitzer’s three–hour portrayal of Sam, there are hints of listfulness, scorn and love in the purest form. Repeatedly reaching his hand out to love interest Donna played by CHS senior Trinity Tacket while simultaneously singing “SOS,” his staunch vocal talent is unaffected by the evocative emotions painted on his face. The audience, including myself, claps in a boisterous cadence, subsumed by the story unraveling onstage.

But this depth does not come effortlessly; rather, it is the product of hours of dedication and rehearsals.

“I’ve seen him get a little bit more comfortable with experimenting with characters physically. because he’s really a thinker,” Stucker said. “When he thinks about his character and develops the character, it’s all there, and what I’m trying to get him to do is take that and put it into the body.”

Schweitzer laughs as he recalls one particular moment with Stucker during rehearsals for the fall production of “Eurydice.” His character is stripped away from his daughter for years until they are reunited in the Underworld, where he details his youth and history in brief anecdotes. While Schweitzer was solemn in his initial display, Stucker pushed for more energy and the enthusiasm of familial love. 

Schweitzer leaped six feet into the air, marched around the CHS Black Box and emphatically waved his hands around, sending his castmates into a laughing frenzy. It was unexpected, and the push he needed according to Stucker.

“He’s trying more and more things, and I think that’s helping him grow as an actor,” Stucker said. “I hope he’s feeling it, but I enjoy seeing him experiment and make more discoveries about what he can do. I think there is a lot of potential there as an actor that he hasn’t tapped into, as he gets stuck in his head, but I’m seeing him start to come out of that a little bit and play around a little bit more on stage.”

Schweitzer attributes his unwavering commitment to character analysis and performance to his baseball background, having played the sport since the age of three. 

“I grew up in sports and therefore [with] the philosophy that if you’re going to do anything, give it 100%, and do everything you can to the best of your ability,” Schweitzer said. “Now, senior year, no longer in baseball, I put all of that competitive drive and hard work into my theatrical processes, and I think that has just given me a deeper and enriched understanding of the art of acting as well as has paid off in my personal performances.”

It was with his freshman year role in “Newsies” that Schweitzer solidified his understanding that he’d rather be on stage than on the baseball diamond, a transition made easier with his overwhelming dedication. Dedication that students and faculty, whether it be in the CHS Drama Club or CHS Red Jackets, learn from. 

“Tyler is just an outstanding young man; I love his passion for theater and how much he pours into the program,” CHS Principal Laura Springer said. “He’s personable, he’s hardworking, he’s a friend to all and he just has a great attitude. He’s one of those young men you love having in your building because he gives you 110%.”

And it is that extra 10%—the extra mile—that Schweitzer will go that renders him a formidable actor and leader from paperwork and research to the imaginative stage. 

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