Dear friends,

 I AM DELIVERED’T is the newest play from Dallas Theater Center’s Resident Playwright, Jonathan Norton.

 Set in the parking lot of a fictional Baptist church in South Oak Cliff, the events of the play are very specific, occurring within the culture of the church’s Usher Board, and featuring characters who are Black, Christian and same-gender loving. This is a community that Jonathan knows well. Indeed, the world of the play has been inspired by Jonathan’s own childhood experiences within the South Oak Cliff church he attended.

One of Jonathan’s greatest strengths as a playwright is that he writes with specificity about characters, places and situations that he knows well and for which he has deep affection. This allows his characters to be three-dimensional, with complex wants and needs, and it attracts great actors to perform in his plays. In addition to being wildly funny (a hallmark of much of Jonathan’s writing), his characters have psychological nuance. They are flawed people who are searching for understanding and love. They are people of faith who occasionally act irreligiously. They are people who care passionately for each other, but who sometimes hurt those they love. They are people who seek to know themselves, but who sometimes can’t see the obvious truth that is in front of them. In other words, they are human.

I love the hyper-local, specific focus of Jonathan’s work. But though his plays are set in Dallas and reflect his very personal understanding of our community, when performed for an audience anywhere in the country they resonate with universal truths and speak to a broad audience.

Great plays don’t tell an audience what to think or teach them a lesson; rather, they invite us to enter into someone else’s unique experience, and, through that, to feel empathy and gain a deeper understanding of our own inner lives and our shared humanity.

In Dallas, religious faith plays an important role in many of our lives. Whether we are believers who attend church or not, our lives are deeply influenced by our relationship to faith. For many, church is one of our earliest and strongest memories of community, shaping our sense of belonging. As we grow in our understanding of ourselves, our relationship with our church often changes. For some of us, church is a loving home throughout our lives. For others, it’s a home that we leave, perhaps for years at a time, or we never return. But the power of that home remains strong, whether as a source of loving comfort or of painful estrangement.

Certainly this is true for those of us in the LGBTQ community who grew up in churches that were not always welcoming for gay people. Some of us have found our way to new congregations that embrace us as we are, while others deny their sexual identity in order to remain welcomed in their church, and still others leave their faith behind entirely.

One of the many beauties of Jonathan’s play is that he has written characters who have genuine religious faith and for whom participation in their church is an essential part of their identity. This is in contrast to the many plays, movies and television shows that avoid portraying characters of faith at all, or that do so with mocking humor or jaded irony. Indeed, contemporary plays are much more likely to be set in a living room, bar or courtroom than in a church. And I can’t think of any other play that is set in a church parking lot!

Through his lived experiences Jonathan understands that, when it is a welcoming space, church can be a place that connects us to our past, that bonds us with each other, that invites us to understand ourselves, and that inspires us to lift our voices together.

My favorite line in Jonathan’s play is only two words long, but it resonates deeply: “Welcome home.”

As a Dallasite, I am thrilled that even as he shares his artistry with audiences nation-wide, Jonathan continues to write about his hometown. As DTC’s executive director, I am honored that Jonathan continues to make DTC his artistic home. In addition to being an attractive region for businesses to flourish, it’s essential for Dallas to be a welcoming home for artists.

I am also deeply appreciative of each of you in our audience tonight. Whatever your beliefs or life experiences, we are honored that you are here in our theatrical home. We are thrilled to introduce you to this wonderful new play and the artists who have come together to bring it to life on stage. We invite you to join us after the play for fellowship and a conversation with the artists and each other. And we hope you will return often in the future.

Welcome home.

I AM DELIVERED’T will be performed without an intermission.
Setting: Good Friday. New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church - South Oak Cliff area of Dallas, TX

Special Thanks to the I AM DELIVERED’T Ambassadors -
Lacy Durham (co-chair), Jennifer Altabef, Mickie Bragalone,
Lauren Embrey, Brandi Giles, Reverend Ray Jordan, Deborah McMurray and Lynn Richardson

This Theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. 

​​+ Member of Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company.
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Dallas Theater Center is a member of the League of Resident Theaters; a constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the nonprofit professional theater; and Visit Dallas.

The Director is a member of the STAGE DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union.

The scenic, costume, lighting sound and projection designers in LORT Theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE.

Dallas Theater Center’s Production staff is responsible for the sets, costumes, lighting, props, furniture, scenic painting, sound, special effects, and wigs in this production.

OFFICIAL VEHICLE OF DALLAS THEATER CENTER

Dallas Theater Center Equity, Diversity and Inclusion  Statement

At Dallas Theater Center, we want to be the best place to work and see theater, and to be a positive and transformational force in Dallas and beyond. We stand-up for equity, diversity, and inclusion across our company and community. As a leading national theater, we recognize that building an equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment is central to our relevance and sustainability in the community we serve and love. ALL ARE WELCOME!

Dallas Theater Center Land Acknowledgement 

We acknowledge the land beneath our feet as the ancestral home of many Indigenous Peoples including the Caddo, Wichita, Tawakoni, and Kiikaapoi, as well as the tribes that may have lived here and roamed the area – including Comanche, Kiowa and Apache – and those indigenous people whose names we don’t know anymore.

We honor, revere and respect those who were stewards of this land long before we made it our home. We also acknowledge the neighborhood we inhabit as one of the original Freedman’s towns of Dallas built by those who were enslaved by European colonization.

Please help us to maintain a safe and inclusive space while you are with us. DTC has a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment in any form including the use of racist, sexual or ethnic slurs - be it verbal, physical, or virtual. If you need assistance or witness an instance of harassment, please notify the House Manager immediately.