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Michael R. Murphycame to the University of Montana in the fall after a career as an actor and director in theatre, film and television, both in New York City and Los Angeles. His areas of teaching include directing, acting, and interactive media performance and design.

His work covers a range of areas, including film, theatre, opera, video design and performance installation work. He has received numerous awards including a Fulbright, which allowed him to create a new media and performance installation (sleepwalker no. 1) in Ireland in March of 2012. Other recent work include video design for the musical Assassins, the play Everyman, and the writing and directing the fiction film What is Done.

His favorite classes to teach include Intro to Media Arts, which explores the different approaches taken by storytellers, artists and designers to time-based work, and Interdisciplinary Projects, which brings students from varied disciplines together to share their work and processes. His philosophy of teaching is based on his experience as the son of a building contractor who instilled the idea that works are constructed, and that learning happens most effectively through apprenticeship–learning with those who are making the work to which we aspire.

  • BFA Southern Methodist University
  • MFA University of Montana
  • Intro to Media Arts
  • Creation of Media Story
  • Interactive Media + Performance
  • Interdisciplinary Projects
  • Grad Core Research: Narrative Experimentation
  • Directing the Fiction Film
  • Acting for Film
  • Medium Practicum,
  • Final Graduate Portfolio
  • Graduate Studio