The Arthur Miller Theatre on North Campus is named for one of the university’s most prominent alumni, playwright Arthur Miller. At Miller’s request, it is the only theater in the world that bears his name.
The 250-seat venue is part of the Walgreen Drama Center, which was enabled by a $10 million gift from Charles Walgreen Jr., a 1928 graduate of the College of Pharmacy.
Architecturally, the Arthur Miller Theatre has been described as a translucent glass cube levitating above a multi-colored base. At night, it transforms into a luminous glass box.
The idea for the theater originated in 1997, when then-President Lee Bollinger proposed it to the Board of Regents.
“This is a community that loves the word, that loves performance. This is vital to what we are as a community and as an institution,” Bollinger said.
The idea was approved, and the university approached Miller about the project. He replied by postcard in the fall of 1997:
“The theatre is a lovely idea,” he wrote. “I’ve resisted similar proposals from others, but it seems right from Ann Arbor.”
The performance space opened a decade later in 2007 and it is configured in a flexible courtyard format. It’s also outfitted with the most current audio and rigging equipment to ensure every spoken word on stage can be heard throughout the theater.
While a student at U-M, Miller initially studied journalism and wrote for both The Michigan Daily and the satirical Gargoyle Humor Magazine. He also wrote his first play, “No Villain.” He later switched his major to English and won the Avery Hopwood Award for “No Villain,” an experience that helped him see playwriting as a realistic path.
A key influence during Miller’s time in Ann Arbor was Professor Kenneth Rowe, whose playwriting seminar shaped Miller’s understanding of how a script is constructed. Miller later described Rowe’s instruction as formative to his development as a writer.
After graduating from U-M in 1938, Miller went on to become one of the most widely produced American playwrights of the 20th century. His best-known works include “All My Sons,” “Death of a Salesman,” “The Crucible” and “A View from the Bridge.” “Death of a Salesman” premiered on Broadway in 1949 and won major awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Miller also wrote screenplays, including “The Misfits.”
Long after leaving Ann Arbor, Miller maintained ties to the university, returning to campus multiple times for events and to receive an honorary degree. He also penned a love letter to Ann Arbor, titled “University of Michigan by Arthur Miller,” in Holiday magazine’s December 1953 issue.
After Miller gave his blessing to the creation of U-M’s Arthur Miller Theatre, Karen Wolff, then dean of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, said, “Building a theater named for him is a fitting tribute for Michigan to make.”
“Future generations of students will see his name on the walls of that theater and know the extent of the possibilities that lie before them. Every student has that same seed of potential.”
Miller died in 2005 at the age of 89.
