Donn B. Murphy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Donn B. Murphy taught theatre and speech courses at Georgetown University from 1954 to 2000. At the invitation of Jacqueline Kennedy and Letitia Baldrige, he became a theatrical advisor to the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson Administrations for White House dramatic and music presentations in the East Room (1961-1965). He was a founding member of the National Theatre Corporation (1974) and is President and Executive Director of the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.

[edit] Biography

Born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1930, Murphy grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas, where his father, Arthur Morton Murphy, a Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, was president of Saint Mary College (now the University of Saint Mary (Kansas). He graduated from Saint Benedict’s College (now Benedictine College) in Atchison, Kansas. He was a Corporal in the 174th Military Police Battalion, and was stationed in Japan. In Yokohama he studied under Margaret E. Lynn in the U.S. Army Entertainment Program[1]. In Tokyo, he met Rev. Gilbert V. Hartke, O.P., who was touring with Players Incorporated (now National Players) which Hartke had established at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Murphy subsequently earned a Master’s Degree in Speech and Drama at C.U. on the G.I. Bill under Hartke. He acted and did technical work with the Players at a summer theatre in Winooski, Vermont. He later earned a Ph.D. in Theatre and Psychology on a Ford Foundation Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was Lighting Director at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri for two years, where he worked with Jeannette MacDonald, Gisèle MacKenzie, Penny Singleton and Charles Nelson Reilly. He was an Assistant Director at NBC-TV in Washington for one summer, where he worked with puppeteer Jim Henson, then a college student. He studied Psychodrama under James Enneis at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC, and with Jacob L. Moreno at Beacon, New York. He serves on the National Advisory Board for City at Peace[2], and the Advisory Boards of The Playwright's Forum[3] and the Synetic Theatre[4] in Washington, DC.

[edit] Achievements

For 21 years Murphy directed the Mask and Bauble Society [5] at Georgetown University (1955-1976). He staged plays in the McDonough Gymnasium, and in venerable Gaston Hall [6], where one of his star players was Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He also mounted productions in the theatre at Holy Trinity Church [7] near the campus, and in Stage Onea 100-seat black box theatre which he and his students built in a basement storage area in Poulton Hall (a "temporary" classroom building built during WWII, but still in use in 2008).

Stressing the value of original writing, Murphy encouraged his students by establishing a one-act play contest and producing three winning plays each year. He also devised the Calliope series of annual musicals [8], and directed the first 15 of these productions. A generation later the Donn B. Murphy One-Acts Festival [9] was established in his honor.

In additional to presenting and directing original writing, Murphy directed Stalag 17, Macbeth, The First Legion by Emmett Lavery, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Teahouse of the August Moon, Julius Caesar, The Madwoman of Chaillot, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, The Fantasticks, Detective Story, Captain Brassbound's Conversion, The Firstborn by Christopher Fry, My Three Angels, Othello, The Visit, Pantagleize by Michel de Ghelderode, Summer and Smoke, The Twelve-Pound Look by James M. Barrie, Richard III, Ivory Tower, The Royal Hunt of the Sun: National Winner in the American College Theatre Festival, Death of a Salesman, Man of La Mancha, The Skin of Our Teeth, When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?: Regional Winner in the American College Theatre Festival.

Among those he has taught or directed in productions in various venues were actor Pascale Armand[10]comedian Mike Birbiglia, author Julia Cameron, performing and recording artist Amy Clarke[11], film director Breck Eisner, author, director and teacher Louis Fantasia[12], Tony-Award playwright John Guare, Tony Award director Jack Hofsiss, actor, writer, director Gus Kakonnen[13], television writer John PiRoman, actor and teacher Julie Portman[14], author Maureen Pratt[15], actor Marta Rubnio [16], [author Robert Sabbag, peace activist Ernest D. Siravo[17], actor and producer Rob Zazzali[18] and a number of others who became teachers, actors, writers, directors and producers in professional academic and community theatres. He won the Best Director Award from the Greater Washington, D.C., Theatre Alliance in 1960 and 1961, the competitive College Dean's Georgetown Faculty Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1998, and was named Georgetown Professor Emeritus in 2000.

For 19 years, Dr. Murphy conducted a theatre workshop for patients at the Chestnut Lodge Psychoanalytic Hospital in Rockville, MD, where he produced and directed, among others plays, A View from the Bridge, Under Milk Wood, The Glass Menagerie, Hay Fever, The Importance of Being Earnest, Picnic, John Brown's Body and Dark of the Moon (1960-1979).

In 1960 he wrote "Papers of Fire," a pageant dealing with America's founding documents, which was presented at the National Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument.

For the American Light Opera Company [19] in Washington, DC, he directed Show Boat (1961), Finian's Rainbow (1962), South Pacific (1963), The King and I (1964), Camelot (1965) and West Side Story (1966).

His doctoral dissertaton, "Dramatic Portrayls of Christ" (1964), written at the University of Wisconsin dealt with the Oberammergau Passion Play, and a variety of other theatrical manifestations of Jesus Christ. He wrote "A Director's Guide to Good Theatre," (1968) which was published in Washington, DC, by the National Contemporary Theatre Conference (formerly the National Catholic Theatre Conference).

With Kathleen Barry he wrote, produced, designed, directed and appeared in five interactive participatory children's shows, performed twice each weekday for six weeks over five summers at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts (1975-1979).

In 1984, Murphy wrote "Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the World," a dramatic reading commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution Museum of American History, and presented there under his direction, starring Susan Stamberg and Jean Stapleton.

He was a founding member of the non-profit corporation, established in 1974, which saved the National Theatre (Washington, D.C.), which stands three blocks from the White House, from destruction. He was a principal negotiator in the 1983 renovation of the building, and became the instituion's President and Executive Director. This “Theatre of Presidents” has existed at the same location on Pennsylvania Avenue since 1835, albeit partially rebuilt several times, and is the longest continually operated Class-A Legitimate touring house in the United States.

With Douglas Lee and Roger Meersman, Murphy wrote Stage for a Nation: the National Theatre - 150 Years (1985) [20][21], a chronicle not only of the National Theatre, but in large measure a history of professional theatre in the national capital.

He is co-author, with Stephen Moore, of Helen Hayes: A Bio-bibliography (1993)[22].