Frederick D. Miller is a Pittsburgh, PA-based dramaturg, historian, and fan of musical theatre. He is a PhD Candidate in the Theatre and Performance Studies PhD program at Pitt where his dissertation project, “It’s Just Like Broadway: Reprisal Dramaturgies in 21st-Century Licensed U.S. Musical Production (2021-2026),” explores the relationship between the Broadway musical and licensed musical production across the United States in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. His work has been published in Fifty Key Stage Musicals (Routledge) and MusicTheatreDance.
Frederick is a proud theatre educator. He is a current Teaching Fellow at Pitt, where he has taught courses in script analysis, theatre history, and global theatrical practices. In addition to serving as a previous Instructor of Record at Penn State University, Frederick has been an invited speaker and guest lecturer on musical theatre at Binghamton University, Wilkes University, and Harrisburg Area Community College.
In addition to his work in academia, Frederick founded The Musical Theatre Dramaturg in 2022, a consulting and educational service that assists theatrical institutions in engaging their artists and communities through dramaturgy-infused approaches in production, marketing, and audience engagement. Frederick has dramaturged over 70 theatrical productions from Off-Broadway revivals to high school musicals across the United States. Recent and upcoming projects include the Off-Broadway revivals of Milk and Honey and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Come From Away at Theatre Harrisburg, The Pirates of Penzance at Lebanon Valley College, and Frozen at Cumberland Valley High School.
Frederick has presented his work at Mid-America Theatre Conference (MATC), Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), the International Society for the Study of Musicals (ISSM), and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KC/ACTF). Frederick served as the Interim Associate Conference Planner for the 2026 MATC conference in Pittsburgh, PA, following three years as a member of the Conference Planning Committee. For both MATC and MTDA, he also served as Graduate Student Representative.
Frederick holds an MA in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Pittsburgh and BA degrees in Theatre and Comparative Literature from Penn State University. To learn more about his work as a dramaturg, follow his Instagram @themtdramaturg, or visit his website, frederickdmiller.com.
Research Interests
Musical Theatre History & Performance; American Theatre; Dramaturgy; Fan Cultures; Marketing
Education & Training
- MA, Theatre and Performances Studies, University of Pittsburgh, 2024
- BA, Theatre, Penn State University, 2022
- BA, Comparative Literature, Penn State University, 2022
