Katharine Hamer
Contributing Writer

DESPITE his 31 years
in Vancouver, Stephen
Miller still speaks with a
languid draw! that
reveals his Southern
upbringing — a setting
he returns to in his first
novel, The Woman in the
Yard.

Sold to American publisher
St. Martin’s Press-Picador after
they'd had the manuscript for
only 10 days, the book is set
to catapult Miller into the
spotlight on another level, too:
the film rights have aucudy
been picked up by Ally McBeal
star Gil Bellows.

Deep Cove’s Miller, one of
the founders of Vancouver's
‘Fahmanous Theatre, has spent
years on’stage and on the
small screen — but this is the
first time he'll get to see char-
acters he’s created on celluloid.

Miller grew up in Durham,
North Carolina, and took a
history degree at the Virginia

Milita Institute at the height
of the Vietnam War. He quick-
ly became disenchanted with
_the, idea ofa military life,

~ “{ was just an ordinary
Soutiorn ath the muses. Wy
grew up with the miliw-v, My~
dad: ‘fought iri the wars ane
there were all these ads on TV
saying ‘Enlist now, don’t wait

- until you've got'a new baby to. -

_ get drafted.’ I was going to

enlist-and then come home to _

work for my J father. 1 had no-

inkling that } was going to
become an actor or a writer. I
Was just a goof.”

Miller’s views were altered,
in part, by his on again/oft
again girlfriend from back
home. “She turned into a hip-
pie,” he says. “She was headed
for peace and love, and she
thought I was some kind of
dinosaur. Which I was. But
then J started to think about
the world and who I was. i
realized 1 didn’t want to kill
anyone, and I certainly didn’t
want to get killed.”

So he convinced the mili-
tary to aiiow him to travel to
Vancouver, where he took a
master’s degree in creative
writing. At the time, UBC was
onc of only three schools in
North America offering the
course.

“I got accepted right
away,” he says. “They saw a
picture of me with no hair and
all these brass buttons and
thought, ‘Whoah, who is this
guy? Let’s get him up here.’ it
was a wonderful time to be in
Vancouver. { hung out in the
theatre department at UBC
and made friends with people
like Larry Lillo and John Gray.
T just ended up staying here.”

Miller says that when he
began getting involved in the-
atre, “it was like somebody
reached inside my brain and
turned on all the switches. It
became a fell-time life.”

He spent the best part of
the °70s working with
Tamahnous and the Vancouver
Playhouse on such classics as

| Medea and The Tempest, as well

as more modern plays.

But when cinematic oppor-
tunities arose, Miller jumped
-— and has scarcely fooked
back since.

“I was a big movie fan,” he
says. He was lucky, too, in his
birthplace: the first American
directors to arrive in
Vancouver were told to watch
out for Canadian accents.
“Which was strange,” says
Miller, “because aside from
Newfoundland and the
Ottawa Valley, I can’t tell the
difference. Everyone sounds
like Peter Jennings.”

But American fears were to
his advantage at the time:
Miller scooped up bucketfuls
of screen time on U.S, pro-
ductions shot in Vancouver.

“Before that, I had no idea
that I would ever own any-
thing,” he says. “I didn’t think

I'd ever have a any moncy in the
bank, or a car, or a mortgage:
all the things that other people
have, I was content just to give
it up.”

In addition to penning

novels (he’s just completed the
final draft of his second — a
Literary thriller set in Russia _
called Peytr’s City ), Miller has
been working steadily on local-
ly-made television shows.
Uniil the recent cancellation of
Millennium, he had a recur-
ring, role on the sty Me ss
Special Agenr An cClaren.

PThe Worn an in the Yard
centres on a scries of mysteri-
ous murders in deeply secre-
tive — and racially prejudiced
— 1950’s Wilmington, North
Carolina. Miller says he want-

Revitalized wy company needs a new home

From Page oe

ing dialogue in a truly exciting
Creative event which augurs

well for theatre in British
Columbia.”

Although the play lost out
on the ultimate award for Best
Production (which went to

strong’s Asparagus
Theatre for its production of
. Goodnight Disgrace ), Crosing
produced the most discussion
and controversy amongst the
public and 300-plus delegates
in attendance at this tremen- .

dously successful festival week.
Theatre West Van contin-
ues to search for a home in
which to mount its own pro-
ductions. The company cur-
rently relies on the facilities of
Presentation House in North

_ Vancouver. Its recent mem-

bership drive produced over
50 new members. It has now
elected a board of directors
and is looking forward to pro-
ducing a travelling childrea’s
play at Christmas and another

‘lay for next year’s Zone

estival.

. Wicker Rocking Chair oo,
39 goo , cg
at Wicker Armchair!

With corpon. Limited quantities .

supe expires Sept 15/99

Anyone interested in help-
ing Theatre West Van to “rise
again from the ashes” should
contact president Bill Elfiott at
922-1379.

In the meantime, John
McGie is producing
Blandiloguence for this year’s
Vancouver Fringe Festival and
working on a full-length musi-
cal, Thomas T., again in col-
laboration with Carl Craig, to
be unveiled on Sept. 2 and 3,
1999 at the Deep Cove Shaw
Theatre.

— Katherine Hamer

Burt Arch Top Screen

ed to explore “very real
things,” in the novel: “like the
different ways that women are
valued. Some are seen as cheap
and some are scen as expensive
in the cyes of men. It’s like
with (John) Kennedy — he
and his wife and hez sister are
seen as valuable. If three black
kids fron: the inner city disap-
peared, they wouldn’t send
out a search pariy.”

Miller is thrilled by the
prospect of a film version. “it’s
very exciting,” he says. “When
[ heard it had been bought, I
was just floating on air for
about 10 days.”

He says his 18 year old son
isn’t quite as impressed: “He
just thinks I’m an old fart,”
Miller laughs, “although he’s
actually a great writer himself.”

Gil Bellows’ own company
will be producing The Woman
in the Yard . “I'm keeping my
fingers crossed that he can get
the money together,” says
Miller, who if given his choice
of roles in the movie has
announced that he would like
to play the coroner.

ACTOR Stephen Miller reaches back to his North
Carolina origins in his novel The Woman ii the Yard.

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