Skylar is a Chicago based Director, Producer, Musician, Teaching Artist, and Theatre Maker deeply interested in the intersection of Theatre and Music. He studied theatre with a focus on Directing at Middle Tennessee State University under the mentorship of Halena Kays and Deborah Anderson, and then launched his career in Chicago in 2017. 

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He is interested in exploring worlds full of music, including musical theatre, plays with music, concerts with stories, and everywhere in between. This is what led him to start Instrumental Theatre Company, an emerging Chicago arts organization whose mission is to inspire harmony through ensemble storytelling crafted at the intersection of actors and musicians. Since founding Instrumental in 2025, Skylar has quickly carved out a community of like minded collaborators, and has been fortunate to work on the development and production of several new works by Chicago artists. 

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​His enthusiasm for play as a tool of discovery and passionate interest in music guides his practice as a collaborator, infusing rhythm, pace, tempo, and theory into his storytelling, devising, and rehearsing. This practice extends into both bold new works and reimagined classics, including Skylar's adaptation of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull with Instrumental Theatre Company. He collaborated with the company of actor-musicians to devise original music to score the scenes, amplify storytelling, and heighten the relationships, while working in a site specific location along Lake Michigan.

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Skylar's work as a Teaching Artist equally informs his practice with artists of all ages. He has taught theatre and music to students of all ages with companies in Florida, North Carolina, New York, and Illinois, and has experience creating original work for young audiences. 

Skylar's original play with music, Ranger Tales: True Stories from America's National Parks toured to over 30 Chicago Public Library branches in the summer of 2018, and reached nearly 1,000 children and families across the city. 

By day, Skylar works as a Program Operations Manager at Chicago Children's Museum where he supports the museum's mission beyond our walls, bringing high quality play based learning to kids all over Chicago. He also teaches as a part of Chicago's longest running youth music tradition, Wiggleworms, at Old Town School of Folk Music. 

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Beyond his work with Instrumental, he has also worked with Olney Theatre Center, Raven, Theatre, Writers Theatre, Bump In The Night, Improv Playhouse, Midsommer Flight, Underscore Theatre Company, Mudlark Theatre, and Haven Theatre.