Hiring News

New leadership leads the New Year for 2 Dallas theater companies

Two Dallas theaters — Second Thought Theatre and Teatro Dallas — are starting the New Year with new leadership. The former has hired an executive director, while the latter has brought on a new executive artistic director.

Executive director is a new role for Second Thought, which has been helmed solely by artistic director Carson McCain since 2020. Now, Dallas-based actor and playwright Parker Gray takes the managerial lead as part of a multi-pronged rethink of STT’s administrative infrastructure.

Following Drew Wall’s demission of his role as director of operations — which he held for over 15 pivotal years — the STT board of directors and staff saw an opportunity to reshape its company structure and to build greater synergy between artistic vision and logistical efficiency, explains a release.

“Parker has been a dear friend and collaborator of mine for almost a decade,” says McCain. “There is no one whose taste and vision I trust more when it comes to the DFW theater landscape. Second Thought Theatre is incredibly lucky to have such a talented and knowledgeable leader joining our team.”

Gray is a graduate of the acting program at Southern Methodist University and his list of credits includes notable projects for film, television, and practically every theater company in the DFW, including an upcoming production of The Play That Goes Wrong co-produced by Stage West and WaterTower Theatre. That's also him starring in one of 2022's top productions, Stede Bonnet: A F*cking Pirate Musical at Theatre Three.

“I’m so incredibly excited and honored that I get to help usher this theater into the next era of its existence,” says Gray. “Drew Wall and Alex Organ [STT's previous artistic director] were, and are, two of my inspirations in this town, and the theater they created when I first drew artistic breath here were my favorites. So to now follow in their footsteps and sit beside another inspiration and favored colleague, Carson McCain, and create theater at Second Thought is both humbling and a dream come true.”

Gray was selected for the position in late October 2022 and now joins the STT staff in the newly developed role in earnest

Teatro Dallas has announced Gustavo Ott as its new executive artistic director. Ott will succeed Sara Cardona, who will remain on staff as director of development.

“This 36-year legacy is one I am proud to inherit and build upon as an exclusive asset, an artistic and educational gift that lives and speaks to us because it is also a political legacy: of resistance, beauty, and engagement," says Ott. "Our season is the backbone of our identity. And my artistic vision, of course, starts with my plays."

Ott was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and is a playwright, theater director, and fiction writer. For 20 years, he was executive artistic director of the San Martin Theater and Fiesta: International Theater Festival in Caracas. As a director, he has staged more than 15 plays of his own and by other contemporary authors. As a playwright, he has written over 50 plays and has been translated into 15 languages.

Ott also vows to support new work, "in particular plays by BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and women writers. Through the Playwriting Workshop, I will develop new plays and authors, placing priority on world premieres, national premieres, state premieres, and English-language premieres. I will seek to make an impact with beauty that is not superficial, to shake spectators with a season that is beautiful, entertaining, and at the same time political. Beauty with sharp claws."

He will also focus on strengthening international ties with groups and institutions in Spanish-speaking countries, particularly with Mexican theater.

"We will translate contemporary Latin American playwrights into English and promote them in the U.S.," Ott says in a release. "Our International Festival — a unique event in the southwest of the country — will also remain a priority. It will continue to grow as a link to Latin America."

Photo by Brent Weber

Parker Gray is Second Thought Theatre's new executive director.

theater

Season Announcement

Echo Theatre introduces Dallas audiences to a season of strangers in 2026

Photo by Julieta Cervantes

'The Roommate' was recently on Broadway.

It's a "Season of Strangers" for Echo Theatre this year, as the Southwest's premier company for promoting dramatic works by women+ focuses on how someone different than you can change your life.

The 28th season begins with the new musical Silhouettes by Jordan Ealey and Ari Afsar. This score-in-hand workshop was developed in the aftermath of the fall of Roe v. Wade, and examines a pivotal moment in American history through the intersecting lives of two women navigating the decision to have an abortion. Echo's managing and artistic director Kateri Cale directs, with Vonda K. Bowling as musical director.

In a joint statement, Ealey and Afsar say that Silhouettes was born from their need to process the emotional and political aftermath of Roe’s fall. “We continue to see that history is cyclical and equity is fleeting,” they say. “But when policy fails, art has the opportunity to step in. Silhouettes is a musical about choice, sisterhood, and intergenerational courage.”

They add that presenting the work in Dallas reflects their commitment to community-building in states like Texas, where bans and restrictions have made women and gender minorities particularly vulnerable. “We want this musical to be a safe and brave haven amid attempts to create a culture of fear and a reminder that people are not alone.”

It runs January 16-17, 2026, and admission is free, though a $20 donation is suggested.

The world premiere of You Must Wear A Hat by C. Meaker is next, and plugged-in Dallas theater fans might recognize the play from its reading at Kitchen Dog Theater in 2019.

Tuesday and Weeks make hats on the Great Barrier Reef, waiting for the world to end. It's described as "A play for two. And a rabbit."

C. “Meaks” Meaker (they/them) is a playwright, essayist, and teacher whose work often explores queerness, monstrosity, and the end of the world. Their plays have been performed and developed across the United States, including the Kennedy Center, Seattle Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Annex Theatre (Seattle), Hub Theater (D.C.), Fat Theater Project (Chicago), and About Face (Chicago). They’re a two-year finalist for the Dramatist Guild National Fellows program and a recent finalist for the Jerome Hill Theater Arts Fellow.

You Must Wear a Hat runs February 27-March 14, 2026.

The season closes with The Roommate by Jen Silverman. The play was on Broadway in 2024 starring marquee names Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone.

In it, a divorced Midwesterner takes a roommate from The Bronx. A relationship evolves and secrets unfold into a darkly comedic exploration of life choices. It runs June 19-July 4, 2026.

All shows this season will be performed at the Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Dr., in White Rock Lake Park.

Tickets range from Pay-What-You-Can to $40, with discounts available for students and seniors.

Additional events this season include Cake by the Lake on April 21, Echo's free birthday party fundraiser that also launches its reading series, Echo Reads.

Echo Reads runs April through September, presenting six plays in six month. All plays will be performed on Tuesdays at 7:30 pm, and then read the next day at different venues around the city.

Echo Offstage Podcasts is going monthly. The free podcast series interviews women+ who are making art and making a difference.

And Echo is already teasing its 29th season, which will begin in the fall of 2026 and run the more traditional September through August instead of the calendar year.

The season 29 opener is a co-production, the company mysteriously hints, involving three Dallas theaters, two shows, and an internationally known writer. We'll all just have to wait and see what this intriguing production might be.

echo theatre podcasts world premieres echo reads the roommate play theater