Interview: Samantha Wynette Miller Cooking Up a STEW While Dealing With a DEAR DEAD DRUG LORD

Next up at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, Center Theatre Group (in association with IAMA Theatre Company) present Alexis Scheer’s Our Dear Dead Drug Lord opening August 27, 2023 (already in previews). CTG’s associate artistic director directs the cast of Ashley Brooke, Aliyah Camacho, Samantha Wynette Miller, Coral Peña, Lilian Rebelo and Juan Francisco Villa. The very busy Samantha squeezed some time from her preview rehearsals to answer a few of my queries.

Thank you for taking the time for this interview, Samantha!

How does it feel to be working at two major Los Angeles venues (Pasadena Playhouse’ Stew and Our Dear Dead Drug Lord at the Kirk Douglas) back-to-back?

Truly, I have never felt so blessed! It's my first time booking back-to-back jobs as an actress, and it just so happened to occur as the industry here in L.A. was grinding to a halt due to the strikes. My agents are calling it the "Summer of Samantha," and it's been a dream come true!

Was there any overlap of Drug Lord rehearsal with Stew’s performances?

YES! It was insane. For two long weeks I was in rehearsals for Our Dear Dead Drug Lord at the Kirk Douglas Theatre from 10am-6pm, and then sprinting out to the parking garage for an hour-and-twenty-minute drive to make it on time for the evening performances of Stew at The Pasadena Playhouse. Those in L.A. may know that the rush hour traffic from Culver City to Pasadena is no joke, and I did it daily before the curtain rose. I've never spent so much money on gas, and I've mastered the art of eating dinner on the highway! 

How are rehearsals going?

It's hard to describe how incredible it feels to be a part of this particular production of this particular play. I'm surrounded by incredible creatives both on stage and on the production side of things, and the experience has been everything the poets say about what "making art" should feel like. It's gritty, it's deep, it's awe-inspiring... but mostly it's just really freaking fun! 

How did you originally get involved with Drug Lord?

Funny story, actually! While I was in rehearsals for Stew, I got an email from my talent agency saying that Center Theatre Group was requesting for me to come audition in-person for Our Dear Dead Drug Lord. My rehearsal schedule made that impossible, but they were gracious enough to allow me to send in a self-tape audition video instead. After doing so, they invited me to an in-person callback! Luckily it was one week away, so my director and stage manager at Stew were able to plan ahead. They released me early on the day of the ODDDL callback, and I had a fantastic time! But then the ODDDL team asked me to come back in-person the very next day for a chemistry read with other actors. That couldn't happen- Stew needed me back for rehearsal. I was so worried that I was going to be out of the running for ODDDL because of it. But get this: ODDDL casting was willing to let me join the chemistry read session virtually from The Pasadena Playhouse on my 10-minute breaks from Stew rehearsals. Everyone else at the chemistry read was physically in the room, but they had me propped up on a rolling TV screen reading the lines! The other actors in the room were doing their best to act like I was really there, and somehow we made it work! I got the offer to play Squeeze backstage at tech rehearsals for Stew the following week, and the whole team celebrated with me. 

What would your three-line pitch for Drug Lord be?

A gang of teenage girls are coming of age via grief, the occult, and Pablo Escobar. Cocaine, cat blood, and virginity are a recipe for disaster in this beautifully matriarchal play. Get ready to laugh until you actually can't anymore! 

If you were to submit your character Squeeze on a dating site, what qualities of hers would you list?

Considering this play takes place in 2008, I have a very clear vision on Squeeze's extra Facebook account that she only uses for messaging boys that go to other private schools in her area. Her profile page would have some cringey header, like:

Musical Theatre junkie 

Future Congresswoman (D-FL) 

I won't waste your time until you prove you won't waste mine 

What flaws would you definitely leave out?

Bursts into showtunes 

Just discovered anti-racism and will bring it up in every conversation 

Major Daddy issues 

Is Squeeze someone you can identify with? Or did you have to come to grips with certain aspects of her character to portray her?

Aside from the crazy situations she finds herself in, Squeeze is totally me in high school. Deeply invested in the drama club, always supportive of the people she cares about, and completely one-track minded. Unfortunately, Squeeze is experiencing a level of loss that no high-school kid should have to go through. Gaining a grip on the depth of that loss has been hard work that I'm blessed to not relate to fully!

Have you worked with any of Drug Lord’s cast or creatives before?

Nope - this is my first time meeting every person on the team. How lucky I should be to work with any of them again after this!

You’ve also written a play DragonSoul Offline. What’s that play all about?

DragonSoul Offline is about a 7th grade boy named Devon who is split between the online world of battling dragons and the real-life world of battling middle school. Based on my own experiences growing up in the age of technology, it's a play written for modern young audiences who may need to see how the real world can be just as interesting as the world inside their screens! It's being published this fall, so please check it out.

What did you want to be in your teens – an actor or a playwright?

Both! I always idolized the actor-writer, and both for the stage and screen. When I was a teenager, Issa Rae and Lin-Manuel Miranda weren't household names yet... but they were living out my career bullseye and inspiring me already! 

If you had to choose just one occupation, which would it be – actor or playwright?

Assuming that producers work with the unions so that either one can actually remain an occupation (...too soon?), there's no way I could choose just one! For me, acting and writing are intrinsically connected. When I'm acting in a play, I go home and rewrite the play from my character's perspective. When I'm writing a play, I can't find the character's voices without acting them out in my apartment. It's only recently that some nice people have decided to pay me for doing so, and somehow, I've managed to remain a balanced hyphenate. 

Who were your idols growing up?

Aside from my actor-writer icons Issa and Lin-Manuel, I adored the creatives that made their work seem effortless. Some were western actors like Eartha Kitt, Angela Bassett, and Audra McDonald. Others were the apparently-perfect international idols like Mayu Watanabe and also, like, practically everyone in K-Dramas. The more effortless it seemed for them to be really good at what they were doing, the more I obsessed over how they became masters of their craft. 

Have you crossed paths with any of them?

Yes, actually! The Angela Bassett came to see Stew at The Pasadena Playhouse. She waited by the stage door after the show, and when I came out, she hugged me and told me that I was amazing! I'm still starstruck!

What else is in the near future for Samantha Wynette Miller after Drug Lord?

Next up on my horizon is heading back to a little town that taught me how to be an artist: Ashland, Oregon! I'll be performing in a workshop and staged reading of a new play called Lyon’s Pride by the consistently-award-winning playwright Bleu Beckford-Burrell at the Ashland New Plays Festival. New work feels like home to me, so to dive into a new play in the theatre town that functioned as my artistic home for years really feels like the perfect way to end my "Summer of Samantha"!

Thank you again, Samantha! I look forward to meeting Squeeze and her girlfriends.

For tickets to the live performances of Our Dear Dead Drug Lord through September 17, 2023; click on the button below:

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