Jersey City (October 5, 2005) — Saint Peter’s College will host the Tenth International Arthur Miller Conference on its campus from October 7-9th. The three-day event will feature panel discussions on the author, the presentation of papers by approximately 20 faculty from various colleges and universities and a keynote address by author and Miller scholar Dr. Christopher Bigsby. “The works of Arthur Miller focus on the everyday struggles of the average person,” said Lew Livesay, an English professor at Saint Peter’s College and president of the Arthur Miller Society. “Social justice themes abound in his writings. Miller’s dramatic and non-dramatic texts have sparked debates about social goals and values in the 20th century and examined major themes and events such as the Holocaust, the American Dream, the Red Scare and the Vietnam War.”
The conference begins on Friday evening with a screening of the film Memory of Two Mondays, based on the author’s one act play. Five 90-minute panel discussions on various works of Miller will take place on Saturday, October 8 starting at 9 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 1:15 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. At each panel discussion, three Miller scholars will present their papers followed by a question and answer session. Both the film screening on Friday and the panel discussions throughout the weekend take place in the Pope Lecture Hall. Dr. Christopher Bigsby, the director of American Studies at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, will deliver the keynote address entitled The Legacy of Arthur Miller. He has edited and provided commentary in numerous books on Miller and modern drama. Dr. Bigsby lectures extensively on the meaning and impact of plays, fiction and commentary that Miller produced over a prolific seven-decade career.
The Miller Society will also announce the launch of the Miller Journal at the conference. The academic publication will feature articles and analysis of Miller’s book and plays, in addition to contemporary book, film and theatre reviews. Dr. Stephen A. Marino, the editor of the new publication, will discuss its goals. The conference concludes on Sunday, October 9th with two panel discussions, one at 9 a.m. and another at 10:45. The presenters include Saint Peter’s College faculty members Father Mark DeStephano, S.J., Professor Lew Livesay, and Dr. John Rouse and three students, Elizabeth Reavey ‘07, Alexis Smith ‘07 and Tania Gray ’06.
All panel discussions in Pope Lecture Hall are open to the general public, with a special emphasis on educators. Arthur Miller, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, was born on October 17, 1915 in New York City. He died earlier this year. Miller wrote numerous books and plays, most notably, All My Sons, Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. Miller received a New York Drama Critics Circle Award for the Broadway production of All My Sons in 1947. Death of a Salesman opened on Broadway in 1949. The American classic won numerous awards and earned Miller the 1949 Pulitzer Prize.
Saint Peter’s College is the Jesuit College of New Jersey. Founded in 1872, Saint Peter’s has an enrollment of approximately 3,000 students in undergraduate and graduate programs. The main campus is located in Jersey City. The College has a branch campus for adults in Englewood Cliffs and also offers courses at various corporate sites at the Jersey City waterfront, in Newark and in South Amboy.