October 31, 2025 

The Department of Theatre Arts and Dance hosts an all-department panel discussion with two Dallas Theater Center artists.

Jonathan Norton

Jonathan is the Interim Artistic Director and Playwright in Residence at Dallas Theater Center where his plays penny candy and Cake Ladies have made their world premiere. His work has also been produced or developed by Actors Theatre of Louisville (44th Humana Festival), Alabama Shakespeare Festival, LaJolla Playhouse, TheatreSquared, Primary Stages, PlayPenn, National New Play Network, National Performance Network, Jacob’s Pillow, Pyramid Theatre Company, Black and Latino Playwrights Conference, Bishop Arts Theatre Center, African American Repertory Theater, Soul Rep, Kitchen Dog Theater, Undermain Theatre, and the South Dallas Cultural Center. Jonathan’s play Mississippi Goddamn was a Finalist for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and won the 2016 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award given by the American Theatre Critics Association. Other awards include: Artistic Innovations Grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance, South Dallas Cultural Center Diaspora Performing Arts Commission, and the TACA Donna Wilhelm Family New Works Fund. He is also the recipient of the 2019 Eastman Visionary Award given by Jubilee Theatre. His play penny candy is published by Deep Vellum Publishing. Jonathan is a proud alum of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages.

John Slauson

John is a graduate of SUNY Oswego where he studied Lighting Design. He has been working in theater professionally for 35 years. John had his first job at the age of 15 at a theater in central NY that was at the time called the Merry Go Round Playhouse. 2024 marks 25 years working as the head of props in a LORT theater. John spent 11 years at South Coast Rep, and has been the head of props at Dallas Theater Center since 2010. On top of doing props at DTC, John has been the decor/set designer for 10 of our Centerstage Galas, and during 2020-21 designed the sets for four shows for DTC. This includes the premier of Cake Ladies written by DTC’s resident playwright Jonathan Norton.