Meet Sylas Smith

A brief word from Jacob & Sylas

After last Friday's closing performance of Death Do Us Part (More about that soon, thank you, Tucson!), I announced to the audience that I will be stepping down as operator of the Rigby Theater Company. This stems from a longstanding desire to establish the Company not as a project or property of Jacob Toole, but as a communal movement that any Tucson student artist can contribute to. In my place, I have instituted a new standing president of the Company, and I will become the Rigby Theater Company's Resident Producer, a role in which I believe I can best support our fledgling community. I will release a larger statement on this subject in the coming days, but, in the meantime, I will say: this decision is one that I am uniquely confident in, knowing that our new president's artistic vision for the Company will expand our ability to help Tucson's student artists in their work with the same style and charm I've grown to love from this community. Despite himself, he is intelligent, capable, and infinitely charming, traits I hope are as evident to you all as they are to me.

Without further ado, I'm proud to introduce the new President of the Rigby Theater Company! 

Take it away, Sylas!

Hello, everyone! My name is Sylas Smith! You may know me as just Sylas, you may know me as SpongeBob, you may know me as Tucson’s premier movie critic, you may even know me as Ladiesman217 on YouTube, if you’re lucky enough! Jacob Toole is my best friend. As you can tell, he’s made do with what he has.

Mr. Toole told me about one of the most idiotic ideas I’ve heard about a year ago, something along the lines of: “I’m thinking about starting a theater company, champ. Whaddya think?” At first, like most would, I laughed at him and told him that he should become a comedian. Then, once I realized he was being completely serious, I stood there in absolute awe. What Jake and this company stood for spoke to me on a level that no other form of theater has before. He wanted to do student-driven, student-directed, and student-produced theater. He, as someone who had been involved in theater around the greater Tucson area for nearly two years at that point, wanted to create an outlet exclusively for kids to showcase their dedication, hard work, and prowess in their chosen art form: drama. The Rigby Theater Company is a place to do all this without being shooed away for not being an adult or blocked behind a paywall from practicing what they love. There’s never been a single thing I’ve ever felt more passionately about in my life, besides Spider-Man. I’ve been doing theater for eight years now. Eight years of incredible opportunities and wonderful experiences. Eight years of studying what I’m best at: bringing people joy when they struggle to find it. However, it’s also been eight years of being defined by narrow, comic parts of my art. Eight years of futile searching for material that spoke to me. Eight years of not being able to do shows with friends who couldn’t fork up high fees, although we so desperately wanted to. Ultimately, it’s been eight years of not being taken seriously because I was a kid. Rigby Theater Company is a natural response to all that we were missing out on, and in concept, I remember thinking, it should work. I stared at Jacob after this, lost in thought. My best friend is starting a theater company. My best friend is admirable. My best friend is a genius. My best friend is completely in over his head, but I’m going to be there with him every step of the way.

Since then, I’ve involved myself in every production here at Rigby Theater Company, no matter how outlandish and unmarketable each idea was. A musical written by Ben Teller? No way! (I love you, Benjamin.) These shows brought me a level of joy and satisfaction that I’ve never felt before. We were producing shows on our own, without aid from those set in their lives, and succeeding. In our sold-out production of Bruisers, I performed a monologue that a student playwright, Joleen Byrd, wrote. It was a great monologue, truly hilarious and snappy, especially for someone in high school. After the performance, Joleen was the happiest I’d seen her. She told me that my performance of her work in Bruisers was perfect, even better than how she’d envisioned it. More than that, I remember:  Joleen had this look in their eyes of pure wonder, as if their talents were no longer finite and had a path to grow on for years to come. I saw hope in this person’s eyes, like she was finally seen in her efforts. It was then that I realized I wanted to take a larger role in the company, knowing we fostered moments of wonder like Joleen’s. I just didn’t know it, yet. After all, following every show I’d come to the same realization: this must end at some point, right? Jacob was moving away for college at the end of the year, along with every other person of power here at Rigby Theater Company. 

In May of 2025, I had just finished showing Jacob a movie (big surprise), and then we found our way to talking about Rigby. Two hours of us borderline ranting about how much we love it and connect with its mission of accessibility. Then, he mentions: he’ll be moving to college, and wants to help me run the company when he’s gone.  I pause for a moment, absolutely stunned by what he’d offhandedly said. I thought, there’s no chance that I could ever do what Jacob’s succeeded at. Later, I realized how much of an incredible opportunity it would be to be able to continue facilitating a theater that meant so much to me, one where my generation could learn and grow, without deferring to adults who often doubt and restrict their talents. This was something I needed to do.

I come to you today (or rather, type this on my school laptop to you today) not as SpongeBob, or Ladiesman217, but only as a kid who wants us all to be seen. I would not be where I am today without the faith and trust that people have put in me over the years. There are too many students out there, some of whom are reading this very statement, who deserve that same blessing. You all deserve to be noticed, to be seen for the talents that you have. Your age or background should not affect that, and at Rigby Theater Company, it won’t. Join us as you are: I promise that every single one of you who comes across my inbox while I’m president WILL be seen. You all will be heard, and, if I can do anything about it, everyone else in this town will hear you, too.

We’ll announce our next project here at the Rigby Theater Company shortly. We’re very excited to get this out of the woodworks to you all. After that, who knows?! (Well, I do, but I don’t quite want to show you my whole hand, yet.) After all, my clock as president is ticking down, and we need to get to work. All I can say: this year will be amazing, and I’m eager to share it with you all.

 -      Sylas Smith, President, Rigby Theater Company