Slinky Slithers

The real story of Miller Outdoor Theatre: Inside Houston's outdoor artsinstitution

Cissy Segall Davis, Miller Outdoor Theatre managing director
Photo by David W. Clements
A scene from the Miller Outdoor Theatre's early days.

While constricting neckties and ankle-breaking stilettos seem to be the uniform du jour for some highbrow art performances, Houston concertgoers should give thanks to a venue where fashion is meaningless and comfort is king. A land of lawn seating and picnic baskets, where vino is optional, and encouraged.

But don't let the informal ambiance fool you. If it's not good enough for the best stages around the country, you won't find it at Miller Outdoor Theatre, either.

Since its dedication as Miller Memorial Theatre in 1923, the venue and 7.5 acres of greens have served as the country's only proscenium theater of its kind. It presented over 140 professional performances to 431,000 people last year, free of charge. That's more than some of the indoor theaters in town.

Back in its formative years, Miller was built as a permanent bandstand flanked by 20 limestone columns (now part of the Mecom Rockwell Colonnade Fountain across from Hotel ZaZa) hosting pageants, sports radio broadcasts and later accommodating the Houston Symphony's first outdoor concert in August of 1941, drawing an estimated crowd of 15,000 even with temperatures reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

It wasn't until 1952 that a city official pointed out that Miller Outdoor Theatre, not Miller Memorial, was the intended name. It's unsure of how the misunderstanding happened.

Cissy Segall Davis, Miller Outdoor Theatre's managing director, has been involved with the venue's activities since 1979 while working at Theatre Under the Stars. Today, she has quite an arduous but richly rewarding responsibility: Working with local arts organizations to program an eight-month performance season and finding touring groups to fill in any cultural and artistic gaps.

"What you see when you look out is an audience that reflects Houston's diversity, including all age, ethnic and socio-economic groups, all sitting together watching the same show at the same time," Segall Davis said. "Anyone can come here to see great performances totally free of charge.

"This is a gift and we are very lucky the city invests in this facility and program."

The Miller Theatre Advisory Board (MTAB) — a 21-member governing group appointed by the Mayor and approved by City Council with five chairs designated for Rice University, University of Houston, Texas Southern University, Houston Independent School District and South Main Alliance — administers a grants program for Houston’s finest performing arts and community-based organizations to perform free of charge at Miller Theatre. Roughly, 85 percent of what's on stage is from these Houston organizations.

And with monies primarily coming from the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) funds through the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA), there is a strong desire to ensure the programs promote tourism and are of the highest artistic merit.

Working with Houston non-profit groups to schedule out the season, underwriting is available for up to 50 percent of the production costs. Segall Davis and her team assess issues of quality, diversity, broad popular appeal and cost effectiveness, followed by a thorough evaluation of the performance.

For touring groups, the funding process is different as HOT funds can only be granted to organizations that operate within city limits.

"This is such a fabulous venue, so well equipped, that the Miller Board wanted to augment the schedule of free performances by Houston’s performing arts groups with outstanding regional, national and international touring artists and groups," Segall Davis said. "The board takes on the responsibility of raising funds to cover these costs."

The Aluminum Show, a touring troupe from Israel, opens the Miller Outdoor Theatre season this Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m.

Think Texas big aluminum slinkys slithering about the stage, creating a sparkling pseudo sci-fi family-friendly world of industrial-meets illusion and fantasy. Using found materials from factories, dancers tell an all-familiar story of a young futuristic machine determined to find its parents.

Spoiler alert: portions of the show are interactive.

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Movie Review

Steven Spielberg captivates with new aliens drama Disclosure Day

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment

Tommy Martinez, Emily Blunt, and Josh O'Connor in Disclosure Day.

With the release of Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg has now directed 17 feature films over 26 years in the 21st century, the exact same number over the exact same period of time he did in the 20th century. The first half of his career was mostly defined by his blockbuster films, while the second half has seen him exploring a lot more serious material. Disclosure Day marries the two for an experience only he could deliver.

The film starts in medias res, as Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) is being pursued by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) and a team of henchmen for stealing intellectual property from Wardex, a government contractor for which he works. As the audience gradually discovers, Daniel is a cyber-security programmer who has discovered evidence of alien life in the company’s servers. He and others within the company, including Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), are determined to release the information to the public.

Concurrently, television meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) starts experiencing weird things, including the ability to speak multiple languages and read people’s minds. Without either of them actively trying to seek each other out, Daniel and Margaret are set on a path to meet, with Scanlon (with the help of a mysterious alien device) trying to track their every move.

Directed by Spielberg and written by David Koepp, the film is an almost even mix between classic Spielberg wonder and a deep story about what it is to be human. By starting the film in the middle of the story, Spielberg immediately ramps up the excitement level. While the movie has relatively little action, that sequence and a few others deliver the type of propulsiveness for which Spielberg is revered, keeping the 145-minute film moving at a brisk pace.

Of the different types of alien movies Spielberg has made over the years, this one is closer to Close Encounters of the Third Kind than E.T. The story ponders the ethical, religious, political, and sociological effects that revealing the existence of aliens could have on the world. The debates had by various characters purposefully take the film out of being a sheer popcorn flick, forcing the audience to grapple with issues that they may have never considered before.

Unlike some other Spielberg films, he and Koepp don’t hold the audience’s collective hand throughout the story. There are a lot of times when viewers have to use context clues to understand exactly what is happening. That especially goes for an extremely important aspect of the world in which the story takes place that could pass you by if you’re only paying attention to the main characters’ dialogue. Spielberg’s using only subtle allusions for an element which would be the main focus of most other films is a fascinating choice.

O’Connor (Wake Up Dead Man, Challengers) has that everyman quality that a story like this needs. It always feels like it's him against the world, and does a terrific job of exuding both confidence and fear. Blunt delivers a fantastic performance, switching between confusion and composure with ease. Firth makes for a solid villain, and the story is helped by great turns from Domingo and Eve Hewson.

The idea that the nearly 80-year-old Steven Spielberg is still making blockbuster-style movies over 50 years after he made Jaws is astonishing, and the fact that he still knows how to make them work is even more impressive. Disclosure Day may not be the type of alien movie many were expecting, but it’s another high water mark in a career that has been full of them.

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Disclosure Day opens in theaters on June 12.

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