Donn B. Murphy
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.
, 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)
. His mother, Claire Frances McCarthy Murphy, wrote children's stories. He graduated from Sacred Heart School and Immaculata High School in Leavenworth, and Saint Benedict's College (now Benedictine College
) in Atchison, Kansas
.
He served three years in the National Guard, 174th Military Police Battalion, in Leavenworth, and was then stationed as a Corporal for one year at 5th Army Headquarters, Fort Sheridan, Illinois
, and then assigned for one year at Camp Drake, Japan during the Korean War
. In Yokohama
he studied on special assignment under Margaret E. Lynn
in the U.S. Army Entertainment Program.
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, D.C.
, and with Jacob L. Moreno
at Beacon, New York.
He serves on the National Advisory Board for City at Peace, and the Advisory Boards of The Playwright's Forum and the Synetic Theatre in Washington, D.C.
from 1954 through 1999, retiring as professor emeritus. He taught successively in the Departments of English, Fine Arts, and Art Music and Theatre [now the Program in Performing Arts], and in the School for Summer and Continuing Education. He taught, at various times, Acting, Improvisation, Performing Arts in Contemporary Society, Playwriting, Public Speaking, Television Production, Theatre History and Theatrical Design.
For 21 years, he directed the Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society at Georgetown (1955–1976). He staged plays in the McDonough Gymnasium and in venerable Gaston Hall, where one of his star players was Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
. He also mounted productions in the theatre at Holy Trinity Church near the campus, and in Stage One, a 100-seat black box theatre which he and his students created 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 oversaw the development of the Calliope series of annual musicals, and directed the first 15 of these productions. A generation later the Donn B. Murphy One-Acts Festival was established in his honor.
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. His doctoral dissertaton, Dramatic Portrayals of Christ (1964), written at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
dealt with the Oberammergau Passion Play
, and a variety of other theatrical manifestations of Jesus Christ.
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). They were Creation of the World, Creation of the Nation, The Curious Computer from Planet Z, Happy Landings, and The Magic Falcon.
In 1984, Murphy wrote Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the World, a dramatic reading commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution
National 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 National Theatre Corporation, established in 1974, to save National Theatre (Washington, D.C.)
, which stands three blocks from the White House
, from razing, as part of a redevelopment of Pennsylvania Avenue
. He was a principal negotiator in the 1983 renovation of the building, and became the institution'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. It is the longest continually operated Class-A Legitimate touring house in the United States. All but two U.S. Presidents since 1835 (Jackson and Hoover) have been known to attend performances there.
With Douglas Lee and Roger Meersman, he wrote Stage for a Nation: the National Theatre - 150 Years published by University Press of America (1985), 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). Together, Moore and Murphy wrote a number of articles published in magazines and newspapers.
Fellowship in 1963-1964. He was invited by President Lyndon B. Johnson
to the signing of the National Endowment for the Arts
legislation in the White House Rose Garden
in 1965, and received Special Awards from the U.S. Army Theatre Project of the American Theatre Association in 1968 and 1970. He received a commendation in the Congressional Record
on December 3, 1984. He was awarded the competitive College Dean's Georgetown Faculty Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1998, and was named Georgetown Professor Emeritus in 2000. He was elected to the Georgetown Theater Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2008 he was nominated to knighthood in the Roman Catholic Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
Letitia Baldrige
Letitia Baldrige is an American etiquette expert and public relations executive.A graduate of Vassar College, she is a former State Department employee and was the White House Social Secretary to Jacqueline Kennedy....
, he became a theatrical advisor to the John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
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
National Theatre (Washington, D.C.)
The National Theatre is located in Washington, D.C., and is a venue for a variety of live stage productions with seating for 1,676.Despite its name, it is not a governmentally funded national theatre, but operated by a private, non-profit organization....
in Washington, D.C.
Biography
Born in San Antonio, TexasSan Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, Murphy grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth is the largest city and county seat of Leavenworth County, in the U.S. state of Kansas and within the Kansas City, Missouri Metropolitan Area. Located in the northeast portion of the state, it is on the west bank of the Missouri River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
, where his father, Arthur Morton Murphy, a Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre
Order of the Holy Sepulchre
The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem is a Roman Catholic order of knighthood under the protection of the pope. It traces its roots to Duke Godfrey of Bouillon, principal leader of the First Crusade...
, was president of Saint Mary College (now the University of Saint Mary (Kansas)
University of Saint Mary (Kansas)
The University of Saint Mary is a private liberal arts university in Leavenworth, Kansas. It is sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, who established it as Saint Mary College. Though it was originally a school for women, the school is now coeducational. St. Mary's Academy for high...
. His mother, Claire Frances McCarthy Murphy, wrote children's stories. He graduated from Sacred Heart School and Immaculata High School in Leavenworth, and Saint Benedict's College (now Benedictine College
Benedictine College
Benedictine College is a co-educational university in Atchison, Kansas, founded in 1971 by the merger of St. Benedict's College for men and Mount St. Scholastica College for women. It is a Roman Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts, and residential college located on bluffs overlooking the...
) in Atchison, Kansas
Atchison, Kansas
Atchison is a city situated along the Missouri River in the eastern part of Atchison County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 11,021. It is the county seat and most populous city of Atchison County...
.
He served three years in the National Guard, 174th Military Police Battalion, in Leavenworth, and was then stationed as a Corporal for one year at 5th Army Headquarters, Fort Sheridan, Illinois
Fort Sheridan, Illinois
Fort Sheridan is a residential neighborhood spread among Lake Forest, Highwood, and Highland Park in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It was originally established as a United States Army Post named after Civil War Cavalry General Philip Sheridan, to honor his services to Chicago...
, and then assigned for one year at Camp Drake, Japan during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. In Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
he studied on special assignment under Margaret E. Lynn
Margaret E. Lynn
Margaret E. Lynn formalized U.S. Army entertainment, beginning in Korea in the 1950s. Building on the tradition of Civil War camp shows, and a military show Yip Yip Yaphank created by Irving Berlin as a soldier in World War I, she eventually developed the U.S...
in the U.S. Army Entertainment Program.
In Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, he met Rev. Gilbert V. Hartke
Gilbert V. Hartke
Rev. Gilbert V. Hartke, O.P. was founder of The Catholic University of America’s Department of Speech and Drama, one of the first university drama programs in America...
, O.P., who was touring with Players Incorporated (now National Players
National Players
The National Players is the longest-running classical touring company in the United States.- Classical Touring Company :After 63 consecutive seasons of touring, this acting company has given approximately 6,600 performances and workshops on plays by Shakespeare, O'Neill, Molière, Shaw, Kafka,...
) which Hartke had established at Catholic University
The Catholic University of America
The Catholic University of America is a private university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops...
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
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
. He was Lighting Director at Starlight Theatre
Starlight Theatre (Kansas City)
Starlight Theatre is a 7,947-seat outdoor theatre in Kansas City, Missouri, United States that stages touring Broadway shows and concerts. It is one of three remaining self-producing outdoor theatres in the U.S.-History:...
in Kansas City, Missouri for two years, where he worked with Jeannette MacDonald, Gisèle MacKenzie
Gisele MacKenzie
Gisèle MacKenzie was a Canadian-American singer, most famous for her performances on the popular television program Your Hit Parade.-Biography:...
, Penny Singleton
Penny Singleton
Penny Singleton was an American film actress. Born Marianna Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania she was the daughter of an Irish-American newspaperman Benny McNulty — from whom she received the nickname "Penny" because she was "as bright as a penny".During her sixty...
and Charles Nelson Reilly
Charles Nelson Reilly
Charles Nelson Reilly was an American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in theater, movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game....
. He was an Assistant Director at NBC-TV in Washington for one summer, where he worked with puppeteer Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
, then a college student. He studied Psychodrama
Psychodrama
Psychodrama is a method of psychotherapy in which clients utilize spontaneous dramatization, role playing and dramatic self-presentation to investigate and gain insight into their lives. Developed by Jacob L. Moreno, M.D. psychodrama includes elements of theater, often conducted on a stage where...
under James Enneis at St. Elizabeths Hospital
St. Elizabeths Hospital
St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. It was the first large-scale, federally-run psychiatric hospital in the United States. Housing several thousand patients at its peak, St. Elizabeths had a fully functioning...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and with Jacob L. Moreno
Jacob L. Moreno
Jacob Levy Moreno was a Jewish Romanian-born Austrian-American leading psychiatrist and psychosociologist, thinker and educator, the founder of psychodrama, and the foremost pioneer of group psychotherapy...
at Beacon, New York.
He serves on the National Advisory Board for City at Peace, and the Advisory Boards of The Playwright's Forum and the Synetic Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Achievements
Murphy was on the faculty of Georgetown UniversityGeorgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
from 1954 through 1999, retiring as professor emeritus. He taught successively in the Departments of English, Fine Arts, and Art Music and Theatre [now the Program in Performing Arts], and in the School for Summer and Continuing Education. He taught, at various times, Acting, Improvisation, Performing Arts in Contemporary Society, Playwriting, Public Speaking, Television Production, Theatre History and Theatrical Design.
For 21 years, he directed the Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society at Georgetown (1955–1976). He staged plays in the McDonough Gymnasium and in venerable Gaston Hall, where one of his star players was Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As the longest-serving justice on the Court, Scalia is the Senior Associate Justice...
. He also mounted productions in the theatre at Holy Trinity Church near the campus, and in Stage One, a 100-seat black box theatre which he and his students created 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 oversaw the development of the Calliope series of annual musicals, and directed the first 15 of these productions. A generation later the Donn B. Murphy One-Acts Festival was established in his honor.
For 19 years, Dr. Murphy conducted a theatre workshop for patients at the Chestnut Lodge
Chestnut Lodge
Chestnut Lodge was a historic building in Rockville, Maryland, United States, well known as a psychiatric institution. It was a contributing property to the West Montgomery Avenue Historic District.-History:...
Psychoanalytic Hospital in Rockville, MD, where he produced and directed, among others plays, A View from the Bridge, Under Milk Wood
Under Milk Wood
Under Milk Wood is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, adapted later as a stage play. A movie version, Under Milk Wood directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released during 1972....
, The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...
, Hay Fever
Hay Fever
Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Laura Hope Crews played the role in New York...
, The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
, Picnic
Picnic
In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...
, John Brown's Body
John Brown's Body
"John Brown's Body" is an American marching song about the abolitionist John Brown. The song was popular in the Union during the American Civil War. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting movement of the 19th century...
and Dark of the Moon
Dark of the Moon (play)
Dark of the Moon is a dramatic stage play by Howard Richardson and William Berney which had a ten-month run on Broadway in 1945, followed by numerous college and high-school productions....
(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
National Sylvan Theater
The National Sylvan Theater — often simply the Sylvan Theater — is a public sylvan theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument, National Mall, in Washington, D.C., USA. It is located within the northwest corner of the 15th Street and Independence Avenue intersection, about 450 feet southeast...
on the grounds of the Washington Monument. His doctoral dissertaton, Dramatic Portrayals of Christ (1964), written at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
dealt with the Oberammergau Passion Play
Oberammergau Passion Play
Oberammergau Passion Play is a passion play performed since 1634 oberammergau-passion.com. 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2011. as a tradition by the inhabitants of the village of Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany.-Origins:...
, and a variety of other theatrical manifestations of Jesus Christ.
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
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, known locally in the Washington, D.C. area as simply Wolf Trap, is a performing arts center located on 130 acres of national park land in Wolf Trap, Virginia...
(1975–1979). They were Creation of the World, Creation of the Nation, The Curious Computer from Planet Z, Happy Landings, and The Magic Falcon.
In 1984, Murphy wrote Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the World, a dramatic reading commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
National Museum of American History
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. Among the items on display are the original Star-Spangled Banner and Archie Bunker's...
, and presented there under his direction, starring Susan Stamberg
Susan Stamberg
Susan Stamberg is an American radio journalist who is currently a Special Correspondent for National Public Radio and guest host for Weekend Edition Saturday.Stamberg was born in Newark, New Jersey...
and Jean Stapleton.
He was a founding member of the non-profit National Theatre Corporation, established in 1974, to save National Theatre (Washington, D.C.)
National Theatre (Washington, D.C.)
The National Theatre is located in Washington, D.C., and is a venue for a variety of live stage productions with seating for 1,676.Despite its name, it is not a governmentally funded national theatre, but operated by a private, non-profit organization....
, which stands three blocks from the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, from razing, as part of a redevelopment of Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue is a street in Washington, D.C. that joins the White House and the United States Capitol. Called "America's Main Street", it is the location of official parades and processions, as well as protest marches...
. He was a principal negotiator in the 1983 renovation of the building, and became the institution'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. It is the longest continually operated Class-A Legitimate touring house in the United States. All but two U.S. Presidents since 1835 (Jackson and Hoover) have been known to attend performances there.
Publications
Murphy 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 Douglas Lee and Roger Meersman, he wrote Stage for a Nation: the National Theatre - 150 Years published by University Press of America (1985), 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). Together, Moore and Murphy wrote a number of articles published in magazines and newspapers.
Awards and honors
Murphy won the Best Director Award from the Greater Washington, D.C., Theatre Alliance in 1960 and 1961, and received a Ford FoundationFord Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
Fellowship in 1963-1964. He was invited by President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
to the signing of the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
legislation in the White House Rose Garden
White House Rose Garden
The White House Rose Garden is a garden bordering the Oval Office and the West Wing of the White House. The garden is approximately 125 feet long and 60 feet wide...
in 1965, and received Special Awards from the U.S. Army Theatre Project of the American Theatre Association in 1968 and 1970. He received a commendation in the Congressional Record
Congressional Record
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when the United States Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks...
on December 3, 1984. He was awarded the competitive College Dean's Georgetown Faculty Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1998, and was named Georgetown Professor Emeritus in 2000. He was elected to the Georgetown Theater Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2008 he was nominated to knighthood in the Roman Catholic Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.