Overview
Beth Milles is a Director and Associate Professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University. Recent directing work includes HEADING INTO NIGHT a clown play about …forgetting (Cherry Arts), AND IF I DON’T BEHAVE THEN WHAT (open fist) TIMEBOMB by Carson Kreitzer (Kitchen Theater) FELT SAD, POSTED A FROG (international pandemic collaboration) FAREWELL CHRIS YEE (NYC). AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY (Hangar Theatre) the world premiere of Iva Brdar’s RULE OF THUMB at the Cherry Arts (Ithaca, NYC) collaborations with award winning poet/playwright/performer Ruth Margraff TEMPTATIONS OF THE FRESH VOLUPTUOUS (a virtual/aural performance evocation (Iowa and Chicago/digital) and LOCKET ARIAS in Chicago (RED TAPE, ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO) Judy Tate’s FAST BLOOD (Civic Ensemble/broadcast nationally/hosted by American Slavery Project).
Other work includes the world premiere of Judy Tate’s IN THE PARLOUR (Civic Ensemble) SERIAL BLACK FACE by Janine Nabors (Long Wharf Theatre) and THE DRILL by Sierra Blanco (Cherry Lane, Young Playwrights Inc.) Beth developed and directed the world premiere of IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT (an adaptation of Charlie Chaplin 1916 Mutual film short One Am) Nano Performances (13 site-specific multi media installation created in collaboration with visual artist/animator Lynn Tomlinson) Lauren Feldman’s play A PEOPLE, THE CHERRY ORCHARD (a site specific installation production (both at Cornell University)), DEAD MAN’S CELL PHONE (Trinity Repertory Company), THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (Trinity Repertory Company) and LAZARUS DISPOSED (Perishable Theatre) Tim Robbins and Adam Simon's CARNAGE for The Actor's Gang 20th anniversary season in Los Angeles, a new adaptation of Moliere’s THE BOURGEOIS with composer Lewis Flinn, Carson Kreitzer’s FLESH AND THE DESERT for the Summer Play Festival in New York City. Beth directed the world premiere of NERO: ANOTHER GOLDEN ROME at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco developed in collaboration with playwright Steven Sater and composer Duncan Sheik (workshopped initially with her students at Cornell).
She directed the West Coast premiere of Carson Kreitzer’s SELF DEFENSE at The Actor’s Gang Theatre in Los Angeles (3 LA Weekly Awards), Julia Sweeney's "GOD SAID HA” on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre, SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, A CERTAIN LABOR DAY, written by and starring Carroll O' Connor at The Union Square Theatre in San Francisco. Beth adapted and directed THE IMAGINARY INVALID at the Actors Gang Theater in LA which toured at The Rushmore Festival (4 LA Ovation Awards including Best Adaptation)
Beth specializes in interactivity, the instigation of physical impulse, experiential experimentation at the outer edges of farce (that which is unexpected, and improbable) as well as the development of new and devised work. She has directed and developed an adaptation of Carlo Gozzi’s THE LOVE OF THREE ORANGES, and an adaptation of SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS which premiered in Los Angeles (3 LA Ovation Nominations) inaugurating the outdoor performance space at Bergamot Station. Other work includes the world premiere of PRIVATE BATTLE; Lynn Manning's adaptation of Woyzeck with The Actor's Gang and the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (3 LA Weekly Nominations) Lisa Loomer's MARIA MARIA MARIA, MARIA for the Mark Taper Forum’s New Works Festival in Los Angeles.For 2 seasons at the HBO New Writers Project, Beth directed over 10 new works. For LA Theatreworks and National Public Radio, Beth has directed the radio versions of AN AMERICAN DAUGHTER with Mary McDonnell, THE YOUNG MAN FROM ATLANTA with Shirley Knight, and her own adaptation of THE IMAGINARY INVALID with The Actor's Gang.
She was the recipient of the prestigious Walt Disney Television Fellowship in Directing. Additionally she has received a Bean Fellowship, NYSCA individual Artist grants, as well as Society for the Humanities, Einhorn Engagement, Cornell Council for the Arts grants to create, forage and imagine work.
She has developed new work at many theatres including Playwrights Horizons, The Juilliard School, The Sundance Theatre Institute, American Repertory Theatre, Young Playwrights, Inc., New York Stage and Film, The Mark Taper Forum, The Magic Theatre, New York Shakespeare Festival, ASK Theater Projects and South Coast Repertory Theater. Other work includes The Guthrie Theater, Trinity Repertory Theater, The Classical Theatre Lab, The Two River Theater, The Kitchen Theater, and Williamstown Theatre Festival.
Beth is currently developing a new work (STAGE)fright. Excavations of Despair and Extravagance, a multidisciplinary work in collaboration with writer/performer Chris Wells (Secret City) they have been awarded a Bean Fellowship. She was awarded a 2023 NYSCA grant for her work on HEADING INTO NIGHT: A clown play on … forgetting which she directed and co-devised, developed- in collaboration with performer/clown conceptor Daniel Passer (Cirque du Soleil) - which will begin to tour in the fall of 2024.
A graduate of Cornell University, Beth joined the faculty in 2001. She has guest lectured at Harvard University, Brown University, The University of Texas, Austin, Southern Connecticut State University. While on leave from Cornell she served as Head of the Directing MFA at Brown University and as an Associate Director at Trinity Repertory and as the Director of Education at Long Wharf Theatre. Beth is also a graduate of the ART Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.
Research Focus
Experimental performance. Improvisational Theatre. Street performance.
Adaptation of theatre from alternate source material. Writing for performance.
Interaction with audience.
Publications
Interviews
Director Beth Milles and performer Daniel Passer on WHCU
In the news
- Digital murals to dental clinics: Einhorn Center grants support community-based projects
- ‘Desdemona’ celebrates Morrison’s Nobel Prize anniversary
- Clown play captures complex emotions of cognitive loss
- International group of playwrights, actors combine for livestream
- “The Wolves” spotlights complex dynamics of girls’ athletics
- Heermans-McCalmon competition winners present their work
- Question authority, beware false prophets in “Tartuffe”
- Alumna takes Broadway across the country
- Beth Milles directs ‘Fast Blood’ in Civic Ensemble summer festival
- At the Heart of Humanity
- Nobel Laureate’s autobiographical play presented in Ithaca
