Mr Miller from Another Angle

“I think when you get that standing ovation, when you get that light cue that comes out just perfect and you get all the warm and fuzzies inside–that’s what keeps me going.”

Mr. Miller is a loved and well known math teacher at Smithtown High School West. He is fun, energetic and does everything he can to make math exciting. On top of all these great qualities, he is also very well known for his work in the theater and being in charge of Smithtown West’s stage crew.

Every year Smithtown West puts together a spring musical and a fall drama. Miller and his stage crew are in charge of lights, sound, set design and set building for every production put on in our school. This is not an easy feat but something Miller enjoys greatly.

“I’ve been doing theater since seventh grade, in middle school and I just loved it and kept going with it. I’ve been doing it my whole life, almost,” says Miller.

It’s not only the theater itself Miller enjoys. His favorite part of working on productions is the teamwork and the family atmosphere that comes with every show.

“You need the costumes, you need the lighting, it’s not just about any one part,” says Miller. “You can’t have one part of theater without the other and along with that comes the whole family aspect. Everybody is family.”

Although Miller very much enjoys doing theater and being in charge of  Smithtown West’s stage crew, there are always downsides. Working in theater is not an exception. Miller expressed that, for him, the hardest part is time management. He has to teach until 2:00, go straight to a long rehearsal, go home do whatever he has to do for the next day, get little to no sleep and do it again. Time management is crucial.

It is not an easy job, and on top of teaching and being a dad and all his other responsibilities, he works with two other theaters.

Miller says, “Right now I am working on three different shows. I’ve got Bayport where I’m just kind of starting in the design stages, the community theater opens next week, the drama.”

Miller has a lot going on and it is definitely not easy to juggle it all.

“I sleep very little. It’s a lot. It’s not an easy task, it takes a lot of organization,” says Miller.

To the average person, it seems nearly impossible to do all that this man does. To him, it would seem weird to be doing anything different.

“I think I’ve become used to it,” says Miller. “I’ve been doing it since seventh and eighth grade ya know juggling all of it so I think it’s become second nature to me.”

Even though it is hard work and the time commitment is incredible, Miller does it year after year. He does it for one main reason: the kids. Miller considers the kids in Smithtown West’s stage crew to be another family to him and they are a big part of why he continues to do the productions year after year.

“I like seeing you guys bond,” says Miller. “I like giving you guys a family or an outlet. We have a lot of people from a lot of different places on the tech crew where everyone is welcome, nobody is turned away and we pride ourselves on that.”

Miller is a teacher who we all know and love. When you ask him, “What’s up?” and he says, “The lights,” his love for lights and puns comes out. This is his second life, his second home, his second family: the theater.