Justin Tanner
	Dustin Jenkins

Making Their Marks:
Justin and Dustin
By Larry Stevens

Theater and performance studies students Justin Tanner and Dustin Jenkins aren’t waiting for graduation to make their marks. In two very different ways, they have moved beyond campus productions.

Justin Tanner, a junior from Woodstock, Ga., first went out of state to college then spent a year doing theater work around the country—Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Los Angeles.

“When I came home to be with my family, I enrolled in Kennesaw and have discovered how amazing the faculty is here. They really stretch and push you,” he says. “The college does on-the-edge works. So as a student you can really get out of the program what you put into it.”
In fact, it was thanks in large part to his performance in the College of the Arts’ production of Translations that he landed the major role of Robbie Fay in this fall’s Theatre Gael presentation of A Man of No Importance.

“I never thought I’d be able to do the Irish accent, but my experience with Translations gave me the confidence to do it while I learned a lot about the Irish culture.”

Dustin Jenkins, too, is plying his talents beyond the KSU campus. A senior performance major, he has been involved in non-denominational Christian humanitarian service since he was a high school freshman, traveling at least once a year to Latin America to work with “the poorest of the poor.”

He has used his theater training to translate his experiences, especially in Peru and Mexico, into personal narratives to educate people at conventions, churches, camps and storytelling festivals on the dire need he’s witnessed.

“I’m able through the medium of storytelling to raise awareness and funds for food, clothing and medical supplies.” says Jenkins, whose performances at KSU have included The Hero’s Journey, The American Dream and the The Revenger’s Tragedy.

After graduation, he plans to join the Peace Corps to continue fulfilling his commitment to help his fellow man and to turn life experiences into dramatic art.

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