Pop-Culturalist.com

Alex Wyse is an award-winning storyteller who is quickly making his mark as an actor, editor, writer, producer, and director. He’s brought dynamic characters and stories to life on the stage and screen with credits including The Bold and the Beautiful, Indoor Boys, Spring Awakening. His latest project, Summoning Sylvia, marks another impressive milestone in his career as he directs his first feature film.

Summoning Sylvia tells the tale of Larry, who has been kidnapped by his three best friends for a bachelor weekend getaway at a haunted house. As they sashay through the dusty corridors, the comrades recount the house’s legend from a hundred years ago: a murderous woman named Sylvia slaughtered her son and buried him beneath the house’s floorboards. But then Larry remembers that he was supposed to spend the weekend bonding with Harrison, his mysterious future brother-in-law. Horrified at his oversight, Larry invites the army-uniformed, hetero Harrison to join his gaggle’s gaycation, neglecting to run it by his friends. Later, as they hold a high-spirited séance to summon the sinister Sylvia, the group ends up welcoming more houseguests than they bargained for. The conflation of hauntings and homophobia, laughs and scares, Summoning Sylvia is the hilarious tale of surviving a night of supernatural thrills.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Alex about Summoning Sylvia, how he has opened his own door in the industry, and more.

PC: How did you discover your passion for the arts and storytelling?
Alex: I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t in love with theater, movies, and the arts. My parents tell me that I came out of the womb humming, which is a pretty stupid story, but I think it might be true that I walked around humming before I could talk. My parents aren’t involved in the industry at all, but they’re art lovers. I was very fortunate that they would take me to see shows. When they saw how much I took to it, they kept taking me to see shows at the Palace Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio, where I’m from. All the touring shows would come through. I was enraptured by it. I couldn’t believe that all of this magic was happening in front of me. I’ve been trying to figure out ways to be a part of it ever since.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Alex: Wow, that’s a good question. I’m currently working with someone who has had an outsized impact on my life. I’m currently working with Sean Hayes. When I was a middle schooler watching Will & Grace, he was the first person I ever saw on TV who showed me that I could be queer, proud, funny, ridiculous, dignified, and hilarious. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

This is a very gay story, but I remember I would run home from dance class. I would have to leave dance class at the very end, so I could make it home in time for Will & Grace, which is the gayest sentence that anybody’s ever said.

Then the next day at school, we’d all be talking about the episode and discussing if we were more of a Jack or a Will. But he finally gave me a context for where I could fit in the world. He was the first person I ever saw who made me feel like I could also be on television. We all talk about how representation is so important, which is completely true. That was my version of that. That was the first time I ever thought I could be on TV or that I could be in movies. Because I’d see all these beautiful Christian straight children and these all-American families. I would think to myself, “I’m not quite sure where I fit into all of this.” But then I’d see Sean Hayes and think, “I can be funny like that. I can be weird like that. I can be gay.” It gave me this sort of bravery that I didn’t think that I had before I saw him.

So the fact that I’m working with him now is actually one of the most profound things that I think has ever happened to me. I can’t believe that I get to be here and be friends, coworkers, and scene partners with this person who gave my inner child so much courage. I’m still sitting with this moment. I’m in week three of rehearsals, so I’m really in the thick of my feelings on all of this.

PC: In addition to the work that you’ve done on the screen and stage, you’re also a writer, director, and producer. How have your experiences behind the camera impacted the way that you approach your work as an actor and vice versa?
Alex: Wow. I certainly have become a lot more sensitive to the work of everybody else on set. It’s very easy when you’re just an actor to think, “I have to do my job and the whole world is against me.” It’s a false mindset that is easy to fall into as an actor.

However, when I’m working on the other side in a producorial capacity, especially now that I’ve been directing more and I have to familiarize myself and work intimately with people in so many different departments, I understand that the collective whole is much more important than the individual angst that we are going through in the moment.

Now that I can understand what goes into the struggle of the stage manager, trying to manage all of the different personalities in the room and create a schedule that is serving the needs of the director but also the actors while also thinking of the big picture of the schedule, it puts into perspective how I used to get into my own head. Now I understand that we’re all trying to do our best and we all have a job to do. We can work to bridge communication and have sensitivity for everybody’s individual role in that collective. That’s one of the big ways.

Also, I think another thing that I’m saying is that it turned me into more of an adult instead of a petulant child. An adult is able to look at all of their kids and say, “Hey, I understand that you’re upset. I know that you have these needs, but we need to all work together so you can live.” I’ve found more ways into the parental mindset and the awareness of the larger whole so I can get out of my own way, get out of my own myopic view.

PC: Throughout your career, you’ve done such a fantastic job jumping back and forth between film and television and the stage, which I imagine requires different disciplines. Has that ever been a challenge?
Alex: It really has. But I’ll tell you, one of the biggest challenges for me has been in the area of self-esteem, which has always been a struggle for me. I’ve often believed, “Well, I could never be on that TV show. I’ve just been in musicals. Why would they ever want me?” That mindset has gotten me in my own way.

Part of how I’ve been able to go back and forth is that first off, I’ve been fortunate that those opportunities have knocked on my door. But then, because they knocked on my door I started doing everything I could to really tackle those opportunities when they came and not let them pass me by—and to have an awareness of not having done too many projects that are like this. Now that I’ve done this, I want to do something different over here.

There’s so much to it. I’ve just tried to get out of my own way and believe that there is a place for me in all these mediums—that the only one who is really stopping me from doing all the things that I want to do is myself. Because if anybody says no to me, well, I can find a way to say yes to myself and open up another door and keep working until somebody finally says yes to me. But if I accept somebody’s no, then I am in the category that they assigned me to be in. But I have the power to break that if I have the wherewithal to keep knocking on doors and saying, “No, no, no, I can do prestigious drama. I’m going to really go after that, and I’m going to work so hard on understanding that style.” Or, “No, no, no, I can direct a movie. I’m going to work my tail off to build my skillset around all of the disciplines and work to raise the money and work to convince producers that I am an appropriate person to sit in that driver’s seat.” If I keep believing in myself, then I can make all of it happen. As soon as someone doesn’t believe in me, then they’re not of use to me anymore. I really say that as much for myself as for anyone reading that that might resonate with so I can continue to believe that.

PC: Speaking of opening the door for yourself, you’ve got a new project out now. Tell us about Summoning Sylvia and the inspiration behind this project.
Alex: It’s a horror-comedy film that I co-wrote and co-directed with Wesley Taylor. It’s the story of a gay bachelor party where they perform a seance and chaos ensues. It’s a combination of comedy and horror, hauntings and homophobia. It’s a total thrill ride. It’s funny from start to finish. That’s my pitch.

Wes and I started writing together when we made a web series called Indoor Boys. We did that for three years. We wanted to level up after we finished Indoor Boys, so we decided, “Why don’t we write a feature film?” Because we’ve essentially been doing that anyway with Indoor Boys. They were roughly 80 to 90 minutes of content each season. We thought, “We can do this. We have this within us to do this.” So during the pandemic is when we got really into the horror genre and found so many exciting similarities between the tension of comedy and the tension of a horror movie. We thought that we could take our queer, ridiculous, campy, lovable and unlovable characters, and throw them into the horror genre and see what happens when we mix that pot. So, that’s what we did. We were lucky enough to get a lot of people on board who also believed in the project. We ended up filming it in the summer of ’21.

It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Nothing’s ever been harder for so many reasons. One, it was my first time solely being a director, albeit with Wes. I was really glad that I had my partner in crime there with me. But also, everybody was coming out of lockdown and essentially walking onto our set, so everyone was trying to figure that out, us included, and we were trying to lead everyone while trying to integrate ourselves into a new society that we were all suddenly building together in the wake of COVID. It was really hard, but I’m really proud of us. I’m proud of every person who put their time, talent, and passion into this project because people showed up and did really beautiful work to make this funny, queer, twisty story.

PC: So often with queer narratives, the focal point is centered around trauma or coming out. While that can be part of the queer experience, it isn’t the entire experience. Was that something you were both mindful of as you were writing and directing? What has it meant to you to pave the way for this evolution in storytelling?
Alex: Thank you for saying that. That’s a big mission statement for Wes and me. We tried to do the same thing with Indoor BoysSchitt’s Creek does so well—a world in which it doesn’t matter if you’re gay. These characters just happen to be gay, and other things exist. That’s part of our storytelling.

We’ve seen so many stories where the gay person is the only one of their kind in a straight world, but we haven’t seen a lot of stories where a straight person steps into a gay world. We thought it would be really interesting to turn that trope on its head. That’s what this movie is about. That’s where the horror comes from. That’s where the comedy comes from. It’s that twist. But back to our original question, we want to tell stories that go deeper than, “Hey ma, I’m gay.” Those stories are very important, but that’s one part of life, it’s not the entirety of life.

PC: You’ve shared on social media that this project has been years in the making. What’s one thing you know now that you wish you had known when you started?
Alex: That’s a great question. There are easily 10,000 things that I didn’t know before that I know now. Because now I have directed a movie. But what’s one big thing? On Indoor Boys, Wes and I were still actors in the project while we were directing it around us. This is the first time that we were solely directors. It was hard for us to make the adjustment to understand that we weren’t going to have the same experiences as the actors. For instance, the actors need to have their own experiences and look to us as parental figures, but we’re not in the trenches in the same way as the actors. They’re two different journeys.

So it was better understanding all the different departments but also better learning how to be a parent to the people who are working on something in which I am taking a leadership position. It’s something that I am honing in on much more closely. Whereas in the beginning, we were like, “We’re making a movie. I’m going to be one of the gang.” But I’m not, and that’s okay. In fact, it’s necessary that I’m not one of the gang. I am leading them with grace, care, and compassion. Wes and I did figure that out by the end, but there was a real shift for us realizing that to fully be the director it’s a different mindset and a slight step backwards, instead of trying to get in the middle of the scene with everyone. That was an important lesson for us and something we will hone in on for the rest of our lives in becoming better leaders.

To keep up with Alex, follow him on Instagram. Summoning Sylvia is out in select theaters and on major streaming services.

Photo Credit: Tyler Gustin