Throughout the year, the University sponsors countless cultural and performing arts events that maintain the University's status as a center for the arts. Both world-renowned performers and the University's own emerging artists showcase their skills in various University-owned venues. Now the University seeks to develop a theater that will honor one of the University's most famous alumni, playwright Arthur Miller. The University's plan to construct a new theater will contribute not only to the University, but to the greater Ann Arbor community.
Arthur Miller attended the University in the 1930s, graduating in the class of 1938. He wrote some of his earliest plays while a student at the University, before returning to his native New York after graduation. He struggled for a time, but in 1947 he had his first hit, "All My Sons." Miller followed that effort with perhaps his most well known drama, "Death of a Salesman," which won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Over his long career, Miller has become one of America's foremost playwrights, penning such other notable works as "The Crucible" and "A View from the Bridge." His body of work, to which he continues to add, compares with those of Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams.
The proposed theater may be established at Liberty Square, which shows a new direction of expansion the University should continue to pursue. Currently, popular University venues such as Hill Auditorium and the Power Center are located near each other within the confines of central campus. Their location somewhat separates them from the Ann Arbor community, making performances there University events more than Ann Arbor events. Establishing a theater further down Liberty Street brings the University and its sponsored events closer to the community beyond the confines of State Street.
The University is taking appropriate steps to contain costs. The theater construction, which may cost approximately $8 million, will be financed from University fund-raising efforts. Once completed, the theater should seat several hundred people. The small theater will not accommodate elaborate settings; instead, productions will focus on the actors in the performances. This should help make the theater somewhat unique, as many productions - particularly in large cities - wow audiences as much with their set pieces as with their casts.
The only flaw in the plans for the theater is the lack of room for University students to perform on its stage. The University expects to schedule numerous professional performances, which would likely keep University productions from using the theater. Given that Miller himself was writing while on campus, the University should leave ample time in the schedule for promising University actors and playwrites to give performances.
Establishing the Arthur Miller Theater is a worthwhile endeavor. It would be an honor to both Miller and the University. And constructing the theater on Liberty Street could help strengthen the relationship between the University and Ann Arbor. The University is a fine supporter of the arts, and the Arthur Miller Theater shows a desire to continue cultivating the local arts community.
09-10-98
| Next Article |
should be sent to: daily.letters@umich.edu | should be sent to: online.daily@umich.edu |