Miller Outdoor Theatre

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Miller Outdoor Theatre (the building in the background of this picture) is located in the 445 acre Hermann Park in Houston, Texas. It is the only fully functioning theatre in the United States that offers totally free productions of ballet, symphony, opera, drama and cultural events.

The theatre was named after the Houston mining engineer Jesse Wright Miller, who left funds to the City of Houston in 1918 that were used to build the original theatre in 1923. The current facility was built in 1968, and can accommodate 6,000 patrons (1,580 in covered seats, the remainder on the lawn). This photo was taken from the top of a large hill looking down towards the theatre.

In the foreground of this image is the sculpture Atropos Key. The name refers to the Greek Goddess of Fate, Atropos, the cutter of the thread of life. According to Greek mythology, Atropos and her sisters Clotho (the spinner of the thread of destiny) and Lachesis (the measurer of the thread) were responsible for human destiny.

Atropos Key is a polished, tooled-surface, cast-bronze sculpture mounted on a concrete trapezoidal base faced with black slate. The bronze plaque on the metal base plate of the sculpture has the inscription: ATROPOS KEY/ SCULPTOR/ HANNAH STEWART/ DONOR/ PATRICIA S. WOODWARD/ GIVEN TO THE CITY OF HOUSTON/ AUGUST 24 1972

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