Full-day K worth Jessamine taxpayers' dollars

Comment by Shark88: Friday, September 3

Ms. Dragomir, you can donate from your own personal funds to help the schools out. It is a free co...read more...

Fiscal court buys Nicholasville Cafe building

Comment by Shark88: Friday, September 3

So the state is forcing the county to build a justice center? When does that have to be built?...read more...

Defending First Amendment rights different from endorsing message

Comment by tweldon: Thursday, September 2

For weeks I have grown so accustomed to writing acerbic retorts to Leland Conway’s columns with wh...read more...

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When Marianne Miller was a freshman at the University of Evansville, she didn’t take any special note of the name on the front of her acting textbook. But years later, the Nicholasville native was taking cues from the author of that book as she starred on the set while filming his movie, “Fire Lily.” The independent film took home several awards at the American Artist Film Festival this past summer, including a best-actress prize for Miller in her very first movie.

Miller started acting in the third grade when she began participating in annual church plays at Nicholasville United Methodist Church, where she said she “got hooked.” As she grew older, she continued acting in the community with a community theater in Jessamine County and expanded her experience to surrounding areas, becoming involved with the Woodford County Theatri-cal Arts Association and the Lexington Child-ren’s Theatre’s Company B.

Miller was accepted into the three-week Governor’s School for the Arts (GSA) program at Transylvania University as a sophomore in high school, where she discovered she wanted to explore a professional career in theater.

Then, at a college and career day for GSA alumni during her senior year, Miller was recruited by Evansville, where she would later graduate with a bachelor’s degree in theatre performance.

“If I hadn’t done GSA, I don’t know if I would have gone into theater in college,” Miller said.

But it was at the MidWest Theatre Auditions in St. Louis in her senior year of college that Miller was discovered by the makers of Fire Lily, including writer and director Kenneth Stilson — the man who authored Miller’s freshman acting textbook.

“This man taught me how to act and then employed me once my training was over, which was a very interesting turnaround,” Miller said.

After acting on the stage for over a dozen years, Miller was somewhat apprehensive about transitioning to an independent movie set.

“It was sort of scary,” she said. “You’re [wondering], ‘Is this going to be a backyard project? Is this going to be something legitimate?’ Then, I read the line that says ‘You will be paid this much money.’ Regardless of the professional quality, I was going to be making some decent money off of it.”

“Fire Lily” is “a pulsating story of a young woman who endures turbulent times but emerges ready to leave the confines of her lonely world,” according to Stilson.

The film is still being entered in festivals and is not being distributed yet. Miller said she just recently received her copy of the movie and hasn’t yet seen the film that dominated the American Artist Film Festival.

“I’m glad someone liked it, because I have no idea what’s going on,” she said.

After graduating college and starring in a film, Miller found her acting career facing a do-or-die decision.

“At that point in a young actor’s life, you either go to [New York City] and do the city life or quit and figure something else out,” she said. “I was definitely faced with that dilemma, and I said, ‘You know what? What am I so scared of? It’s New York City. Thousands of people have done it; thousands of people have gone and lived there ... they haven’t just fallen over and died; they’ve been OK.’”

Miller moved to New York City for a year but made a “distinct decision” to stay off the stage while she got acclimated to the culture.

Miller got an internship with the Signature Theatre off-Broadway company while in New York and said she learned a lot about the business and company management.

Miller is currently at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pursuing a master’s degree in acting.

Miller said her future after graduating from UNC is “up in the air” but that she would love to make a difference in professional acting back in her home state.

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