Derek Miller

Derek Miller is Professor of English at Harvard University, where he has taught since 2013 and currently serves as Director of Graduate Studies (on leave Fall 2025). He holds appointments in the Department of English and the Committee for Theater, Dance & Media. Miller previously served as a Visiting Associate Professor at Columbia University during the 2018-19 academic year.

Miller earned his B.A. cum laude in English from Yale University (2004) and his Ph.D. in Theater and Performance Studies from Stanford University (2013).

Professor Miller's research focuses on the intersections of art and industry, particularly examining how law and economics shape artistic production in theater. His work primarily explores Anglo-American theater since 1800, with special emphasis on copyright law, performance rights, and the economic structures of theatrical production. He employs both traditional archival methods and innovative digital humanities approaches in his scholarship, as demonstrated in his projects Visualizing Broadway and the forthcoming Five, Six, Seven, Eight: Broadway by the Numbers. His research bridges theater history, legal studies, and economics, creating a unique interdisciplinary perspective on performance as both cultural and commercial practice.

Miller's publications reveal a consistent focus on the material relationship between performance and commerce, with particular attention to copyright history (1770-1911), Broadway economics, and digital methodologies for theater research. His work shows an evolving trajectory from historical legal analysis toward quantitative approaches to theater history, with increasing emphasis on data visualization and computational analysis of performance practices.

• Roslyn Abramson Award for excellence and sensitivity in teaching undergraduates (2018)

Professor Miller teaches courses in theater history and dramatic literature at Harvard, emphasizing the relationship between text and performance and the material history of theater. His research projects often involve collaboration with students and scholars across disciplines, particularly in digital humanities applications to theater studies. Miller maintains an active presence in professional organizations including the American Society for Theatre Research, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, and Modern Language Association.

Through his Visualizing Broadway project, Miller has established a significant digital research initiative examining Broadway theater through quantitative analysis, creating new methodologies for understanding theatrical production as a field defined by competition and scarcity.