:: Video of gift announcement

On May 11, the theater department threw a party to celebrate its future home and thank donors who made it possible. Students donned costumes, performed a musical number, and threw streamers to mark the ground breaking of the $7.8 million James F. Miller Theatre Complex.

Scheduled for completion in fall 2008, the project will add 18,205 much-needed square feet to historic Villard Hall, including a new studio theater with state-of-the-art lighting and sound, an extended scene shop, and a new green room and costume shop. The new complex will be named for Portland businessman and arts patron James F. Miller.

In 2001, the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation made a lead gift of $1.5 million to the project. In 2005, the Oregon Legislature approved $3.95 million in general obligation bonds, which the university was required to match. More than 150 donors have also contributed to the complex, including Gwen Lillis, whose $150,000 gift will name the facility’s new costume shop.

James Miller began his career at age 16 as an office boy at Blyth & Company Investments in Portland, and eventually became president of the company’s New York office. He and his wife Marion returned to Portland in 1996, where they continued their philanthropic support of education and the arts. He died June 3, 2004, at age 99.

“James Miller was a true patron of the arts,” said Portland businessman Chuck Putney, who is president of the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation. “He was an avid supporter of dance, music, the visual arts and, of course, theater. He also supported education. This project embodies perfectly this philanthropic commitment to both the arts and scholarship.”

“To know Jimmy Miller was to like him enormously,” said UO President Dave Frohnmayer. “He had a deep love for the arts. He achieved what he did entirely from his own brain power. He didn’t have the benefit of a college education, but he always appreciated the importance of higher education.

“Performing arts is one of the cornerstones of the university,” said Frohnmayer. “It is a carrier of the cultural traditions of a people, and it addresses the great, enduring questions about individuals and society. These are part and parcel of a liberal arts education. The first full theatrical production at the university debuted in March 1901. The proceeds of that play were donated to meet the deficit in the treasury of the University of Oregon football team. Oh that we could return to those days! And perhaps we will with this new addition to our campus.”

What will it mean for students and teachers? “Above all, more space,” says Associate Professor of Theater Arts John Schmor. “It will also mean more lighting and ventilation and safer conditions for the scene and costume shops. And, with the new arena theater, we will be able to produce plays we wouldn’t even have considered before. For students, it will mean technology and production flexibility that will give them hands-on experiences that will prepare them for careers in modern theater.”

“I think we do a lot with a little,” said Marissa Neitling, a theater arts and mathematics student who plans to pursue an acting career after graduating this spring. “We’re artists, we’ll always make do. Because of our passion for this art, we won’t let theater go away. But I am so glad that future students will have a space designed specifically for rehearsals and performances.”

Posted: May 18, 2007