Artist Spotlight - Tyler Laughlin

Our August Artist Spotlight, Tyler Laughlin, utilized Watertown Lyric Theater’s recent production to become more acquainted with the local performing arts community. Tyler moved from Indiana to Fort Drum in December of 2022 on military police assignment and decided to reprise his role of Jimmy Ray in Steve Martin’s bluegrass musical, Bright Star. Though he has a baritone vocal range, he was able to soar through some of the higher melodies of the show.

Mr. Laughlin formed an interest in music when he joined his church choir. Eventually, his voice teacher, and distant relative, tested his vocal range and found that it was lower than many basses in choir. About 6 years ago, when Tyler was in 8th grade, he decided to participate in the school musical, Beauty and the Beast and got the role of Lefou, a far different character than Jimmy Ray, which he played his first time as a Junior in Indiana. He was fortunate because his Junior year was in the middle of the COVID 19 pandemic, yet the school was able to find an outdoor performance venue at Lincoln State Park to host the performance of Bright Star.

Tyler also played the Tuba when he was in school, but the price of the instrument has deterred him recently from continuing with the instrument.

When Mr. Laughlin was younger and people asked what he wanted to do for a career, he would tell them that he either wanted “to get into music and be a music teacher” or he wanted “to get into law enforcement.” Though these career paths seem to be in opposition for some, he couldn’t deny his passion for both. At any point he could get assigned to another military base, but Tyler plans and hopes to be in the area for a while and he looks forward to auditioning for future Watertown Lyric Theater productions.