Teaching Theater Through Four Decades of Social Change

Editor’s Note: In 1988, a teacher most commonly had 15 years of experience. In recent years, that number is closer to just three years leading a classroom. The “On Teaching” series focuses on the wisdom of veteran teachers.

For more than 40 years, Karon Cogdill has taught theater at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, and she’s learned not to try to predict her students’ futures.    

“They all want to be stars,” she says, “and my goal is to change that: ‘You don’t want to be a star. You want to work.’” In that work, she tells her students, they can nurture their inner visions, continue to improve, and perhaps be surprised by an unforeseen talent, like a knack for lighting or costume design.

Now, at 68, Cogdill is staring down her own uncertain future. This year will be her last at Booker T., which opened as an arts magnet in 1976 and has since become one of the country’s premier arts high schools, with conservatories in theater, music, dance, and the visual arts. Cogdill has directed the theater conservatory since 2008, and she’s been an integral part of the school’s evolution. “Karon is a legend in Dallas,” says Kristin McCollum, an actor and director