Stephen Montagna is an actor/director [headshot/res], multi-media communications consultant [resume ], anti-violence activist, and staunch promoter of progressive values; he is committed to social justice and is a vocal ally to women, people of color, and members of the LGBT community.

A native of Massachusetts, Stephen received his MFA in Acting at the UW-Madison. Since graduating, he has been seen in BEAST ON THE MOON, SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION, WIT, and OUR TOWN at Madison Repertory Theatre [MadRep closed it’s doors in Spring of 2009], and in GLEN GARY GLENROSS, EQUUS, LONELY PLANET, and THE GOAT, OR WHO IS SYLVIA with local community theatre groups. He has also directed for several community groups, helming West High School‘s production of THE LARAMIE PROJECT in 2006.

Over the past twenty-three years, Stephen has devoted countless hours to maintaining the men’s anti-violence work begun in 1983 by Men Stopping Rape, Inc. During his tenure at MSR, he has presented and co-presented hundreds of workshops at a variety of locations, including the UW-Madison and Edgewood College campuses, high school auditoriums and classrooms, juvenile detention centers, half-way houses, and public school programs. In addition, he has spoken at “Take Back the Night” events in Madison, at UW Steven’s Point, and at UW Parkside, assisted in Peer Educator Trainings both at UW-Madison and Edgewood College, sat on planning committees for Sexual Assault Awareness Month and The DELTA Project (a CDC funded effort focused on prevention work with boys), and had an essay published in the anthology “Just Sex: Students Rewrite the Rules on Sex, Violence, Activism, and Equality.”

As with many actors, and passionate activists, Stephen has had to do other things during the day to “pay the bills.” For seven years, Stephen worked as the Media Specialist at the UW Center for Women’s Health Research, one of twenty National Centers of Excellence in Women’s Health funded by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health. He also briefly worked for Epic Systems in Verona, WI.

In 2004, Stephen had the pleasure of being a part of the UW-Madison’s Office for Equity & Diversity(OED) Leadership Institute; he was invited back to be a co-facilitator for the 2007-08 academic year. Subsequently, the OED hired him as a freelance consultant on two communications projects – a brochure and display case, both of which can be viewed on the Montyland Productions web site.

Stephen was fortunate to stumble into an opportunity to merge his geek-like tendencies and violence prevention background into one job; he was hired as the Violence Prevention Communications Coordinator at the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, a post he held from 2009 until 2013. Subsequently, he was proud to be a part of the team, albeit too briefly, with the Safety Net Project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

Currently, Stephen is directing a documentary – “dojo: the story of an American aikido school”.