Department Faculty - Theatre

Beth Milles

Beth joined the Theatre, Film and Dance faculty in 2001. A graduate of Cornell, she returned after 13 years of freelance directing in New York, Los Angeles and many points in between. She recently directed NERO: ANOTHER GOLDEN ROME at The Magic Theatre in San Francisco (in collaboration with playwright Steven Sater and musician Duncan Sheik.) She originally developed the piece in workshop with 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.) Other directing work includes 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. She also 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 is the founder of Banter Company, which focuses on the adaptation of classical theatre for the modern audience. With Banter she directed and developed an adaptation of Carlo Gozzi's THE LOVE OF THREE ORANGES which premiered in Los Angeles at The ASK Commonground Festival and SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS (3 LA Ovation Nominations) inaugurating the outdoor performance space at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, CA. 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) and 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.

Additional credits include new works by Wendy Wasserstein at Naked Angels, Will Scheffer, John Ford Noonan, Steven Sater, Max Mayer at New York Stage and Film and Lynn Martin. She has developed new work at many well known 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, New York Shakespeare Festival, ASK Theater Projects and South Coast Repertory Theater. Other work includes The Guthrie Theater, The Classical Theatre Lab, The Two River Theater, The Kitchen Theater, and Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Her Cornell directing work includes THE NERO PROJECT, THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, THE MISER, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, VITAL SIGNS, MAD FOREST and CARNIVAL MASCARADE (a 17th century Lully Opera which was a co production with the Cornell Department of Music and The Eastman School of Music in Rochester). She has a worked as a guest artist and lecturer at Harvard University, The University of Texas, Austin, and Loyola Marymount College and has been an adjunct professor of Theatre at The University of Redlands. Beth is a graduate of the ART Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.