Analysis Of Tim Miller

The performance that I attended is Rooted: Tim Miller. Tim Miller’s one-man show is his personal exploration on what comes next after marriage equality as a gay man by looking backwards and searching for meaning in his forefather’s own pursuit for equality. He plays as himself in his autobiographical account on an empty stage in an unassuming black shirt and pants. The only embellishment in his performance are the mostly magenta lighting on the background and his invisible props, actors and his husband, Alister, that he hand-gestures into existence. Miller’s voice dominated almost everything auditory in the performance with the exception of an instance when a very old but up-tempo song played counter to his monologuing in a frantic but

He described a moment, as he recreated it with gestures, where his friend responded to a homophobic heckling by turning around and exposing himself to the culprits. That incident drew the loudest crack-up from the crowd while I was only mustering a decent chuckle at the same instance. I took a moment to reflect on why that obvious joke felt flat to me compared to a room full of giggling viewers. I concluded that perhaps my exposure to the gay community and how sexuality is a very strong part of our culture and identity made the lewdness seem

The title gives hints about a reflection looking back to our roots, but I think that it didn’t telling the story of two men who are in love and will fight to keep each other from being driven apart. Perhaps this was not the point and the focus of Millers show. I think this is in part due to a generational division within the gay community as the older bracket were at the forefront of the civil rights movement and us in the younger end are finding our own way and searching for the meaning of what is it to be married.

On the surface level, the story told by Rooted: Tim Miller was an account by the performer of the years leading up to the legalization of same-sex marriage. On a grander scale, it is a story of resistance and fighting for the wider civil rights by bridging the progress gained throughout the past with the present. After the show, Miller conjected that theater is the strongest when voices are being silenced and that the stage are the first responders of cultural upheaval. He mournfully believes that we are currently in one of those