Dawn Trook - Founder & Program Director

Dawn Trook is an educator, performer, director, and writer dedicated to community-centered art and storytelling. She is a Senior Lecturer at University of California, Merced, where she teaches community-engaged arts, first-year writing, and creative writing. She also serves as Merced County Area Coordinator and poet-teacher for California Poets in the Schools.

Her work extends into schools, arts organizations, and the justice system, where she has taught visual art and English in both juvenile and adult facilities. As a theater artist, she has collaborated with Merced Shakespearefest, Playhouse Merced, and the Atlantic Theater Company, and leads her own creative initiative, Project Big Top.

A recipient of multiple arts grants, she created the children’s shows Sweetie’s Yumhouse Kitchen and Waterheart, a one-woman performance exploring water history in the San Joaquin Valley. Since moving to Merced in 2008, she has helped develop and produce new theater, including numerous staged readings and 24 Hour Plays.

Her poetry has appeared in national literary journals, and she holds an MFA in Creative Writing from University of California, Irvine.

Julian Hernandez - Project Manager (Intern)

Julian Hernandez is a junior at Unity High School in Oakland, California. As part of his internship, he serves as Project Manager for the Theater Works website, coordinating planning, organization, and communication to support the program’s digital presence and development.

Our Mission

Theater Works is a professional training program in acting, playwriting, and theater production serving participants in Merced County Juvenile Justice Programs and the wider community. Led by theater artist and educator Dawn Trook, our program uses ensemble-based theater practices to build collaboration, emotional awareness, confidence, and creative voice.

Rooted in methodologies from the The Actors' Gang Prison Project and Marin Shakespeare Company’s Social Justice/Prison Programs, Theater Works centers community-building, emotional literacy, and the power of storytelling. We believe theater creates safe spaces where people can be heard, valued, and transformed through creative expression.

Through weekly workshops and an 80-hour, 32-week production program, participants move from ensemble-building and acting technique to collaboratively writing and performing an original play. Along the way, they develop skills in listening, public speaking, text analysis, character development, playwriting, and stage performance—while learning to support one another in meaningful artistic work.

Our Mission

To build supportive creative communities that help participants recognize and manage their emotions, strengthen their voices, and share their stories through powerful, original theater.

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