Welcome! | David B. Holton

At a Glance: David B. Holton

I’m a writer, visual storyteller, creative producer, and director based in New Orleans. I work across fiction, screenwriting, theatre, photography, and film/TV. Growing up on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, I fell in love with folklore traditions that mingle memory and mythology, and my work often includes magical elements and explores Southern Gothic themes. I am a member of the Dramatists Guild and Professional Photographers of America.

I am currently a 2026–27 Artist-in-Residence playwright at New Marigny Theatre, where I am revising Bayou Breakdown, a full-length Southern Louisiana ensemble tragicomedy. I also recently completed White Fawn, an adult literary historical novel with folkloric and magical-realist elements set in 1864 eastern North Carolina, and I am currently submitting it to literary agents. My short story “The Lightning Jar” was published in Oyster River Pages as an Emerging Voice in Fiction; my feature screenplay Skin Deep placed as a semifinalist in the Atlanta Film Festival screenplay competition; and my short play “Flautista” won STAAR Theatre’s 2026 New One-Act Play Contest.

Through Holton Creative Services and Dave Holton Photography, I help people tell their stories across mediums and formats. I have worked as a producer, assistant director, production coordinator, script analyst, and photographer, including work on set, in production offices, and as a script analyst for Amazon Studios. Before I focused on independent creative work, I worked in project management and strategy development. That background helps me do the unglamorous work behind the scenes and solve creative and logistical problems so projects actually make it from concept to completion.

Please get in touch about literary representation, theatre, creative producing, photography, or other projects and possible collaborations.

Current Work

Bayou Breakdown — Play in Development

Full-length Southern Louisiana ensemble tragicomedy · In revision

During my residency at New Marigny Theatre, I am revising Bayou Breakdown, a full-length Southern Louisiana ensemble tragicomedy about a bus driver who sabotages his own vehicle rather than accept forced retirement. Stranded above the Atchafalaya Basin on a hot July day in 2015, the driver, his daughter, her partner, a trainee, and a group of passengers are forced into a shared crisis as a local mechanic tries to get the bus moving again.

Through table reads, scene workshops, revision, and a public staged reading, I will continue developing the play toward a possible fall 2027 production at New Marigny Theatre.

White Fawn — Novel in Submission

Adult literary historical fiction with folkloric and magical-realist elements · Complete manuscript · Seeking representation

White Fawn is set in 1864 eastern North Carolina and follows a twelve-year-old boy’s coming-of-age journey through a murky period in the region’s history. The novel reckons with identity, moral choice, personal responsibility, and the ways people search for their own Happily Ever After when every path seems determined to lead toward tragedy.

The novel draws on the folklore traditions and historical storytelling that shaped my own coming-of-age on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. I am currently submitting it to literary agents.

Selected Work

Fiction & Theatre: “The Lightning Jar,” published in Oyster River Pages as an Emerging Voice in Fiction; “Flautista,” winner of STAAR Theatre’s 2026 New One-Act Play Contest; and 2026–27 Artist-in-Residence Playwright at New Marigny Theatre.

Screenwriting & Film: Skin Deep, semifinalist in the Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition; Some Sh-t, Best Mockumentary Microfilm at the Austin Comedy Film Festival; story analysis for Amazon Studios and Resolution Talent Agency; and production credits with Fullscreen TV, CineTel/Lionsgate, and independent film and digital projects.

Theatre: Performed as Captain Arthur Barlowe and served as Assistant Technical Director during the 84th season of The Lost Colony, America’s longest-running outdoor drama.

Photography: Fine-art photography exhibited during PhotoNOLA at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and at Boulier Gallery; documentary photography published in F-Stop Magazine.

Creative Producing & Photography

Alongside my own writing and directing, I continue to produce and help develop creative work for artists, entrepreneurs, and cultural, entertainment, educational, and mission-driven organizations. I take on a limited number of creative producing, story-development, and project-management collaborations through Holton Creative Services. Please get in touch if you have a project in mind.