For those members of the Phillips Academy student body who are geniuses, wish they were geniuses, or simply enjoy spending time with geniuses, Dr. Jonathan Miller is currently visiting campus to participate in a series of events next week. A highly-acclaimed scholar in a number of disciplines, Dr. Miller holds an MD and is a neurologist. He has also directed 11 of Shakespeare’s plays for the BBC and over 50 operas for television and at venues such as the Metropolitan Opera House and La Scala. He is currently directing a production of King Lear at the Lincoln Center. In addition, he has published several books on photography, linking it to his professional knowledge of the eye. He has also published books on the anatomy of the eye. Referred to in many circles as a “renaissance man,” Dr. Miller has had a prolific creative and medical career. He made his opera debut in 1973, and in 1978 made his debut with the English National Opera. Since then he has directed two major television series for the BBC, and is most highly acclaimed for his series on medical history. Dr. Miller came to campus yesterday and is continuing his visit today with lunch in Ropes Salon and this evening with an interview with Visiting Scholar in Molecular Biology Jeremiah Hagler and Instructor in Theater Mark Efinger. He also visited several Shakespeare, set design, and art classes yesterday. Tomorrow he will attend the “Pirates of Penzance” rehearsal. Yesterday, Dr. Miller delivered a lecture entitled “The After-Life of Plays.” “He is an acclaimed expert in four or five different fields. We are going to try to get him to link these fields,” said Mr. Efinger about the interview tonight. Mr. Efinger said that he and Dr. Hagler might ask Dr. Miller questions like “how does medicine feed your work as a director?” and “how does your knowledge of the eye help your understanding of art?” “It is important to realize that while most people compartmentalize, he didn’t,” said Mr. Efinger. Dr. Miller spent his high school years at St. Paul’s and returned to England to attend Cambridge University. He obtained his MD in 1959. He first realized his enthusiasm for theatre shortly thereafter, when he was asked to co-author and act in Beyond the Fringe, a play performed in London and on Broadway in 1960. Dr. Miller is visiting campus under the Kayden Guest Artist Series, a fund established by Mr. and Mrs. Bernard H. Kayden in 1970 to bring famous and accomplished artists to campus.
