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Creator
Miller, Henry (Henry D.)
Call number
Sc MG 756
Physical description
4.37 linear feet (11 boxes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
[Item], Henry D. Miller theater collection, Sc MG 756, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

A veteran theater artist of the 1960s and 1970s civil rights inspired Black theater movement, Henry Miller has directed a number of plays in the African American drama canon. Between 1962 and 1992, Miller founded three Black theater companies: the Joseph Patterson Players (1962-1965), the Afro-American Repertory Theatre Company (1971-1978) and the James Baldwin Writers' Workshop Theater (1992-2002). The Henry Miller Theater collection chronicles Miller's work in theater, film, and television as an artist and scholar and spans the period 1957-2005.

Biographical/historical information

A veteran theater artist of the 1960s and 1970s civil rights inspired Black theater movement, Henry Miller has directed a number of plays in the African-American drama canon, staging more than 30 Off-Off Broadway and regional productions. Between 1962 and 1992, Miller founded three Black theater companies: the Joseph Patterson Players (1962-1965), the Afro-American Repertory Theatre Company (1971-1978) and the James Baldwin Writers' Workshop Theater (1992-2002). His one-act plays, The Christmas Eve Companion Plays: A Winter Reunion and Gifts of Parting were awarded first and second prize in Samuel French's Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival in 1995 and 1998, respectively. The two plays were also published by Samuel French, Inc., and the Alexander Street Press in Virginia. Beyond theater and drama, Miller has been active in film, writing, and teaching. His 1975 short film Death of a Dunbar Girl was exhibited in Black American film festivals at the Vatican, the National Theater in London, the Forum des Halles in Paris, and the Public Theater and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. He has written for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum in Philadelphia, Columbia Pictures, and the New York Village Voice. Miller has various teaching experience, including teaching writing at the American Folk Theater and play and screenwriting at Writers Voice, Inc. in New York; theater history at The City College of New York; and guest lecturing at Kean University in New Jersey and New York City Technical College. Miller holds a Ph.D. in theater from the City University of New York's Graduate School and University Center. His doctoral dissertation is titled "Art or Propaganda: A Historical and Critical Analysis of African-American Approaches to Dramatic Theory, 1900-1965".

Scope and arrangement

The Henry D. Miller Theater collection chronicles Miller's work in theater, film, and television as an artist and scholar and spans the period 1957-2005. The collection is divided into two series: Personal and -General. The Personal series consists of general correspondence; production papers and other materials related to plays which Miller either wrote, performed in, or directed; playwright workshops in which he was involved; and his professional and academic writings and projects in film, television and theater, including his work with Black theater organizations such as the Afro-American Repertory theater Company, the Atlanta Theater of the Stars/Just Us Theater Company, and the Yomo/New Heritage Repertory theater. The General series is a collection of material by and about other African American writers, actors, and theater companies that Miller amassed over the span of his career. The General series also contain a collection of scripts by well- and little-known African American playwrights including Kai Adwoa, Sylvain Bemba, Christopher Blake, Townsend Brewster, Thomas E. Buckrham Jr., Steve Carter, Wendell Carter, Ronald Llyod Davis, Rafael Diaz, Hisani Du Bose, Marjorie Eliot, Everett Ensley, J.E. Franklin, Arthur French Jr., Haile Gerima, Maxwell Glanville, Don Wilson Glen, Sam Greenlee, Laurence Holder, Endesha Holland, Leecynth Hunkins, Rashidah Ismaili, Matthew Jackson, Gertrude Jeannette, James Arlington Jones, Ken Lauber, Glenville Lovell, Malik, Norman Matlock, Lofton Mitchell, Winston Lungelo Mvusi, Mark Nelson, Owa (Dr. Howard Jackson), Passion (Rhonda Hansome), Louis Peterson, Clayton Riley, Garret Robinson, S.M. Shephard-Massat, David Smith, Valerie Thomas, Jacqueline Wade, Clifton Walker, Rudy Wallace, Marion Warner, Ajene Washington, Jaso Wati, and Richard Wright.

The Henry D. Miller theater collection is arranged in two series:

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Henry Miller, July 2005.

Processing information

Processed by Sacha Page, 2009.

Separated material

Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs

Related Material

Also found in the Mamuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture:

Frederick O'Neal papers, Sc MG 965

Gertrude Hadley Jeannette papers, Sc MG 427

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor