By Michael Tsai
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Broadway actress Ruthie Ann Miles will return to the stage this summer after battling back from a horrific accident which claimed the life of her 5-year-old daughter and unborn baby.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Three months after the bizarre car crash that took the life of her 5-year-old daughter and weeks after the loss of her unborn baby, Hawaii actress Ruthie Ann Miles is returning to the stage.
Miles, 35, will reprise her role as Lady Thiang — for which she won a Tony Award for best featured actress in a musical in 2015 — in the West End production of “The King and I.”
Performances will begin June 21 at the London Palladium Theater in advance of the official July 3 opening, according to Playbill.
On March 5, the Kaimuki High School graduate and her daughter, Abigail, were crossing a street in Park Slope, N.Y., with fellow former Hawaii resident Lauren Lew and Lew’s son Joshua when they were struck by a car operated by 44-year-old Dorothy Bruns. Both children died, and Miles and Lew were seriously injured.
Miles was pregnant at the time of the incident. Her unborn child survived the crash but died just two weeks ago, in Miles’ 39th week of pregnancy.
Witnesses said Bruns’ vehicle sped through the marked crosswalk without stopping, struck the women and children, and continued before crashing into a parked car.
Bruns, who has a history of seizures, previously suffered a medical episode that caused her to drive into a parked car a month prior to the accident. She continued to drive despite being told by her physician not to do so for one year.
Bruns pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter last month. She faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
