Arthur Miller Turns 100

This year, the University of Michigan Department of Theatre and Drama turned 100. Additionally, it marks Arthur Miller’s 100th birthday and 125 years of acting classes at the University available to be take for college credit. As a result, the theater department has put on numerous special events to mark this very special anniversary including producing Arthur Miller’s All My Sons in the theater on North Campus named after the playwright.

Many people know Arthur Miller from high school English class where they (most likely) begrudgingly read Death of a Salesman. Death of Salesman was and is more than a Pulitzer Prize winning drama, the work gets to the core of what it means to be an American and to have the chance to fight for and earn the American Dream. Though commonly listed as one of the most influential American plays of the 20th century, Death of a Saleman was not what established Arthur Miller as one of the preeminent playwrights of the 20th century – rather it was All My Sons written in 1947 that produced such a reputation.

To those unfamiliar with Arthur Miller’s life, the celebration of Arthur Miller and the University of Michigan’s Theatre Department may seem to be a case of convenient timing – however – Arthur Miller’s connection to the University of Michigan is much more. After graduating from high school in Brooklyn, Miller worked numerous menial jobs to afford tuition at the University of Michigan. It was here where Arthur Miller studied Journalism and wrote for the Michigan Daily, and where he wrote his first play No Villain which after winning the Avery Hopwood Award prompted him to consider a career as a playwright rather than a journalist. After his graduation from the University in 1938, Arthur Miller maintain strong ties to the University establishing two awards named after the playwright and lending his name to the theater built on North Campus in 2007 – the only theater in the world that bears his name.

As we mark 100 years of Michigan Theatre and of Arthur Miller, it is important to remember that 100 years from now we might well be celebrating the next great mind who graduated from this institution. For it is the opportunities which this University provides that helps it’s students develop into their full potential, potential that one day may change the way people see the world just as Arthur Miller has.