A Body in the O
by touring company
Feb. 26 - Feb. 28, 2027
Friday-Sunday
Join legendary, internationally acclaimed performance artist, queer activist, educator, and long-time VORTEX friend, Tim Miller for A BODY IN THE O. Tim Miller’s creative work explores the artistic, spiritual, and political topography of his identity as a gay man.
Climb along with performer Tim Miller inside the giant O of the Hollywood sign - or as Shakespeare conjured it "the wooden O" of all theatre and performance--where we try to take on the big themes of our time. Miller performs a new work created from his brand new book of performances and stories A BODY IN THE O.
Jumping off from a day in 1984 when Miller scrambled up inside of the O of the Hollywood sign and imagined the performance space tree house of his dreams (PS NY and Highways Performance Space), A BODY IN THE O journeys through the hoops of the Department of Homeland Security, a queer boy's truthtelling, and finally a wedding day in NYC in 2013 as Miller imagines the full possibility of performance that changes the world inside these wooden Os!
Trailer for the new documentary feature film: Tim Miller: Citizen Artist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM15MJ1fLjs
“For an entire generation of queer artists working in the experimental theater world—including me—Tim Miller led the way. His imagination, daring and vision continue to inspire us.”
—Moisés Kaufman, author of The Laramie Project
"Tim Miller sings that song of the self which interrogates, with explosive, exploding, subversive joy and freedom, the constitution and borderlines of selfhood. You think you don't need to hear such singing? You do! You must!"
—Tony Kushner, author of Angels in America
“The VORTEX first presented Tim Miller in 1990. He shaped and supported The VORTEX’s theatre activism and queer performances, especially in our early years. He connected us with dozens of cutting-edge performers, shaping the company’s trajectory and taste for queer performers and theatre and uplifting LBGTQ+ rights.”
—Bonnie Cullum, The VORTEX Co-founder/Producing Artistic Director
The VORTEX has previously presented the original work of Tim Miller: STRETCH MARKS, SEX/LOVE/STORIES, MY QUEER BODY, NAKED BREATH, FRUIT COCKTAIL, SHIRTS & SKIN, GLORY BOX, US, 1001 BEDS, and LAY OF THE LAND.
Tim Miller’s A Body in the O is funded and supported in part by VORTEX Repertory Company, The Texas Commission on the Arts, The Shubert Foundation, and the City of Austin Economic Development Department. We are proud Core Members of the National New Play Network, Six Square-Austin’s Black Cultural District, ATX Theatre, and the Network of Ensemble Theatres.
TIM MILLER is an internationally acclaimed performance artist. Miller’s creative work as a performer and writer explores the artistic, spiritual and political topography of his identity as a gay man. Miller’s performances have been presented all over North America, Australia, and Europe in such prestigious venues as Yale Repertory Theatre, the Institute of Contemporary Art (London), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He is the author of the books SHIRTS & SKIN, BODY BLOWS, 1001 BEDS, which won the 2007 Lambda Literary Award for best book in Drama-Theatre, and A BODY IN THE O. His solo theater works have been published in the play collections O Solo Homo and Sharing the Delirium. Miller’s book 1001 BEDS, an anthology of his performances, essays and journals, was published by University of Wisconsin Press in 2006. Miller has taught performance at UCLA, NYU, the School of Theology at Claremont, Cal State LA, and at universities all over the US. He is a co-founder of two of the most influential performance spaces in the United States: Performance Space 122 on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, CA.
Miller has received numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1990, Miller was awarded a NEA Solo Performer Fellowship, which was overturned under political pressure from the Bush White House because of the gay themes of Miller’s work. Miller and three other artists, the so-called “NEA 4”, successfully sued the federal government with the help of the ACLU for violation of their First Amendment rights and won a settlement where the government paid them the amount of the defunded grants and all court costs. Though the Supreme Court of the United States decided in 1998 to overturn part of Miller’s case and determined that “standards of decency” are constitutional criterion for federal funding of the arts, Miller vows “to continue fighting for freedom of expression for fierce diverse voices.”
Since 1999, Miller has focused his creative and political work on marriage equality and addressing the injustices facing lesbian and gay couples in America. Says Miller, “I want the pieces to conjure for the audience a site for the placing of memories, hopes, and dreams of gay people’s extraordinary potential for love.”
In 2017 he received the Association for Theatre in Higher Education’s Ellen Stewart Award for Career Achievement in Professional Theatre. Miller lives in Venice Beach with his husband Alistair McCartney. His fifth book A BODY IN THE O was published by University of Wisconsin Press in 2019. A feature documentary film on Tim Miller premiered in Fall 2026 Tim Miller: Citizen Artist and is making its way through the film festival circuit.
A Body in the O
by Tim Miller
touring company
February 26 - February 28, 2027
February 26-28, 2027
Fri-Sat 8pm Sun 6 pm
The Eloise Brooks Cullum Stage @The VORTEX
2307 Manor Rd. Austin, TX 78722
Six Square-Austin’s Black Cultural District.
Bus route. Bike Racks. Limited Free Parking.
The Butterfly Bar@The VORTEX and Patrizi’s The VORTEX open daily at 5 pm: hand-crafted cocktails, mocktails, wine, beer, and delicious homemade Italian food.
Tickets: $39/$29/$15 General Admission
LIMITED SEATING
$39 Benefactor
$29 Enthusiast
$15 Discount/Child/Artist/Student/Senior
www.vortexrep.org or 512-478-5282
Advance Reservations Recommended. Limited seating.
Blue Star Theatre: Discounts for Military, Veterans, and their families.
Radical Rush Free Tickets: Limited free tickets for each performance in the spirit of sustainability, accessibility, and the gift economy. Radical Rush tickets released one hour in advance-in-person only.
