About the Play
A Gentleman From Mississippi was originally performed as an 80-minute play with no intermission.
A collection of stories about our politics and our time, A Gentleman From Mississippi touches on civil rights, desegregation, Southern politics, the Vietnam War, McCarthyism, the Kennedys, and current political issues. An engrossing you-are-there history lesson, A Gentleman From Mississippi is also the story of the young student who came to know and learn from a once-powerful man in the waning years of his life.
After serving forty-two years in the U.S. Senate, John C. Stennis retired to his home state of Mississippi and his alma mater, Mississippi State University. As one of two live-in graduate students, David Dallas provided ‘round-the-clock care for the Senator. During the time he lived with Senator Stennis, David kept a journal that provided much raw material for A Gentleman From Mississippi.
About Senator Stennis
Senator John Stennis was the first to urge the censure of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin in 1954. Stennis also helped to draft the Southern Manifesto, a document signed by 101 Southern congressmen to voice their opposition to desegregation. Stennis was also selected by Charles Laughton, British film star, as having the voice and mannerisms Laughton would adopt for his portrayal of a Southern Senator in the 1961 movie Advise and Consent.
In 1965, Stennis was named Chairman of the first Senate Select Committee on Standards and Conducts, also known as the Ethics Committee. He served eleven years as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and helped author the War Powers Act. He voted for the extension of the Voting Rights Act, which he initially opposed in 1965. In 1987, he was named Chairman of the Senate Appropriation Committee Chairman and also selected by unanimous vote to serve as President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate.
Upon announcement of his retirement in 1988, President Ronald Reagan announced that the Navy’s next nuclear-powered aircraft carrier CVN-74 would be christened the USS John C. Stennis. In January 1989, Stennis accepted the position as Executive in Residence at his alma mater, Mississippi State University in Starkville. Stennis died on April 23, 1995.
David Dallas
About David Dallas
A professional actor, playwright, educator, and non-profit manager, David received his Master's Degree from Mississippi State University in Public Policy. He worked for the U.S. Information Agency in the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs in Washington, D.C. as a Presidential Management Fellow. He has also served as the Director of International Programs at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
He has performed A Gentleman From Mississippi around the country, including the Century Center Theater in New York City, the Freedom Forum in Washington, D.C., and aboard the U.S.S. John C. Stennis. David has taught acting classes and led workshops for high school and college students in Mississippi and throughout the Philadelphia area.
A Mississippi native, David is now the CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Delta. He resides in Greenwood, MS, his wife Alicia and four boys, Brendan, Issac, Jesse, and Ezra