Tim Miller and the Highways Performance Space

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how, in 1989, the Highways Performance Space was created in Santa Monica in the hope of presenting a more multicultural perspective of the arts to the people of Southern California. It shows how, rather than focusing on one particular culture, the center was made to present performances that spanned the spectrum of race and gender, ethnicity and lifestyle. It looks at how one of its founders, Tim Miller, already a well-renowned performance artist, focused on the trials of America's gays and lesbians. It also discusses how both Miller and Highways attempted to create a relationship with the world in order to take an uncertain future and mold it into something better than the present in order to end prejudice.

From the Paper:

"Miller's pieces often explain the plights of homosexuals through his own personal experiences. For example, in his most recent work, "Glory Box," he discusses how he and his lover may have to move to a different country as his partner is not a full citizen and they cannot marry in order to allow him to stay (Miller, Body Blows, 210-241). Thus his works touch on a more personal side, while also being able to be somewhat universal as all gay couples have to deal with this type of discrimination in one way or another. This can easily be connected to the creation of Highways, in which his more personal gay/lesbian stance is able to be magnified to encompass all types of minorities."

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