Nicole Adkins
Part-Time Assistant Professor of Theatre
Nicole B. Adkins (she/her) teaches part-time in the Department of Theatre & Performance Studies at KSU. She is a multi-hyphenate theatre maker, award-winning playwright, teaching artist, dramaturg, and advocate for Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA). As the Literary and Education Director for Discovery Stage Company, a new theatre for young audiences in Cobb County, she champions accessible, inclusive, and imaginative storytelling that lifts up the voices and needs of young people and their communities. Her plays have been produced at venues such as Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, Hollins University (VA), Mill Mountain Theatre (VA), Woodstock Arts (GA), Creative Drama Children’s Theatre (NC), SkyPilot Theatre (Los Angeles), and the American International School in Guangzhou, China, as well as other schools, arts organizations, and museums nationwide and abroad.
Nicole has ten plays published with YouthPLAYS. Her essays on Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) appear in A Companion to Children’s Literature (Wiley Blackwell, 2022) and Bloomsbury Introduction to Children’s and Young Adult Literature (2017). She co-authored Playwriting and Young Audiences: Collected Wisdom and Practical Advice from the Field (Intellect Press, 2017) with Matt Omasta.
Honors include the 2024 Kennesaw State University Outstanding Part-Time Teacher Award, the Write Now Playwriting Award, and second place in the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild Marilyn Hall Competition. A graduate of Hollins University’s MFA program in Children’s Literature, she is Rotating Visiting Faculty at Hollins Playwright’s Lab and teaches at Kennesaw State University. Nicole is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Theatre for Young Audiences/USA, the American Alliance of Theatre in Education, and the Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia.
As a certified Pollinator Steward and Georgia Master Naturalist, Nicole is passionate about nature and community-engaged art, especially creating outdoor, immersive theatre experiences for families.
