A celebration of Arthur Miller’s works and life

ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan will host the Arthur Miller International Symposium, “Arthur Miller’s America: Theater and Culture in a Century of Change,” Oct. 26-29, in honor of Miller’s 85th birthday. The noted playwright and U-M alumnus (’38) will deliver the keynote address Oct. 26.

Kicking off a year of theater at U-M, the celebration will present a variety of guests, scholars, commentators, critics, practitioners, and panel participants from around the world, including Buenos Aires, Tel Aviv, and London. Mel Gussow of the New York Times will be part of a panel discussing “Miller and the American Theater” Oct. 28. Gussow’s writing focuses primarily on theater in London and New York. He has written extensively on major playwrights on both sides of the Atlantic.

U-M’s Museum of Art will present a photographic exhibit of work by professional photographer Inge Morath, who also happens to be Miller’s wife. The exhibit, “Arthur Miller at Work,” will include material from her years as a “Magnum” photographer with some photos from the set of “The Misfits” as well as many shots of Miller over the years. Though this Morath material has been shown in Barcelona and Paris, this will be the first showing of her work on this subject in the United States.

Among the activities and events scheduled during the celebration will be a presentation by U-M composer William Bolcom discussing the problems of transforming Miller’s “A View from the Bridge” into an opera. U-M’s Hatcher and Bentley libraries will mount exhibits illustrating Miller’s years at U-M and those immediately after his graduation. Miller’s works that have been adapted for film will be shown before and after the symposium. U-M’s Theatre and Drama Department will stage “A View from the Bridge” during the symposium at a special performance on Oct. 27. This Miller work will also be presented Oct. 5-8 and 12-15 in U-M’s Trueblood Theatre.

Enoch Brater, the symposium’s organizer and U-M professor of English and theatre, says Miller’s works and life explored political events, social justice and progressive causes. “Miller has played an enviable role as public intellectual. He has been and continues to be the social consciousness of the America of his times.”

The Arthur Miller Symposium is supported by the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, the Hopwood Awards, the School of Music, the Department of English, the Department of Theatre and Drama, the Rackham School of Graduate Studies, the dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, U-M libraries, the U-M Museum of Art, U-M School of Education through the “Teachers as Scholars” program, and the U-M Alumni Association.

For more information about the symposium, contact Enoch Brater at (734) 764-6330, by fax at (734) 763-3128 or by mail at enochb@umich.edu.

Arthur MillerMel GussowMuseum of ArtWilliam BolcomEnoch BraterOffice of the Presidentenochb@umich.edu