By Cory Olesen
Dawn Parker’s career has always revolved around the stage. After decades in choreography and the private studio sector, she realized her passion wasn’t just performing—it was helping young people discover their own spotlight. That calling led her to earn a Master’s in Theater Education and join Kennesaw Mountain High School (KMHS) as the Director of Theater, where she’s now spent years growing the theater program into a creative home for West Cobb students.
In just eight years, Parker has introduced thousands of Cobb County students to the magic of the stage. “Unlike other drama programs, we don’t have a feeder program at the middle school level,” she explains. “So most of my students were only introduced to theater through signing up for classes or seeing performances. That’s actually where the idea to revive the Young Audience Program came from.”
The Young Audience program invites neighboring middle and elementary schools on field trips to watch high school performances. To spark even more excitement, Parker began putting on junior musicals. “Essentially, these are condensed versions of well-known shows designed with younger audiences in mind,” she says.
The program now draws packed houses, with tickets for roughly 1,700 students selling out almost overnight. “It’s crazy, I’ll get emails from other teachers asking what time I’m going to release the tickets so they can be on standby,” Parker says.
KMHS isn’t just winning over the neighborhood. They’ve also recently garnered national recognition. This August, KMHS was named a Disney on Broadway: School of Excellence, one of only 21 schools honored for outstanding artistic achievement and student leadership. The recognition comes with a grant covering licensing and materials for one select Disney show. “I didn’t even tell my students I’d applied,” Parker admits with a laugh. “So it was a huge surprise for them when I got that email!”
The shows don’t stop at the end of the school year, either. Parker and her team of KMHS students run two theater camps for elementary and middle-school students every June. “We started with maybe 22 kids the first year, and now we’re up to 150,” Parker says. The camps have been so successful that they’ve inspired similar programs at other Cobb County Schools, including Campbell and Wheeler High Schools.
“Live theater teaches kids to be in the moment,” Parker says. “In a world of streaming, video games and virtual reality, it builds important skills like listening, storytelling, creative thinking and empathy.”
