Passionate about ‘Us’

At the blazing climax of “Us” at Highways in Santa Monica, Tim Miller does something familiar to fans and foes: He sheds his clothes.

The politics of bared flesh are synonymous with Miller, who co-founded Manhattan’s PS 122 in 1980 and Highways in 1989. This, after all, is the notorious NEA Four member who admonished his penis in “My Queer Body.”

Events in Miller’s personal life, however, have profoundly colored his activist palette, resulting in the furious authorial alacrity of “Us.”

The title ostensibly refers to Miller’s domestic situation with Australian partner Alistair McCartney and the couple’s imminent move to London.

“Us” begins with the suitcase-toting Miller casing the house, while Ethel Merman’s disco album trumpets away.

It’s soon evident that Miller’s 2002 benchmark, “Body Blows,” was a prescient signpost.

In “Us,” the self-focused thematic links continue, but Miller maneuvers them to address this country’s karmic debt head-on, with unprecedented potency.

A collage of original cast albums provides Miller’s metaphor -- Broadway musicals as road map for growing up gay in the United States. His suitcase contains the narrative tools, which Miller incorporates while baring his marrow in convulsive, coruscating ways.

Highlights include Miller’s straddling “the rainbow bridge” at Niagara Falls, his National Geographic addiction and the striptease summation, which has unexpected force.

It has so much force, in fact, that when Miller gets dressed again before delivering his rueful, hopeful coda, he must recapture his audience after interrupting the spell.

Still, its effects linger. If a spiritual warrior of Miller’s courage finds no recourse but expatriation, what does this portend for loyal opposition in our polarized nation?

“Us” trains an indelible spotlight on that question, and London’s gain is America’s loss.

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‘Us’

Where: Highways Gallery and Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica

When: Today to Saturday, 8:30 p.m.

Ends: Saturday

Price: $18

Info: (310) 315-1459

Running time: 70 minutes