Donn B. Murphy

Donn B. Murphy
Donn B. Murphy circa 2000
Born	(1930-07-21)July 21, 1930 San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Nationality	United States citizen
Education	Ph.D.
Alma mater	Benedictine College, Catholic University, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Known for	Theatre Teacher and Advisor

Donn B. Murphy (born July 21, 1930) 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 was Vice-President and then President and Executive Director of the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. from 1974 to 2010.

Born in San Antonio, Texas, 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, Kansas. When the unit was activated in October, 1950 during the Korean War, he served as a Corporal for one year at 5th Army Headquarters, Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and then for one year at Camp Drake, Japan. 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 St. Michael's Summer Theatre in Winooski, Vermont. He later earned a PhD 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 summers, where he worked with Jeanette MacDonald, Gisèle MacKenzie, Penny Singleton and Charles Nelson Reilly. He was an Assistant Director at NBC-TV Channel 4 in Washington for one summer, where he worked with puppeteer Jim Henson, then a college student. He studied Psychodrama under James Enneis at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C., and with Jacob L. Moreno at Beacon, New York.