Dad’s Garage’s new managing director Katie Pelkey is laughing on the job

Katie Pelkey wants to celebrate three decades of Dad’s Garage by planning for the improv theater’s future.

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Katie Pelkey, the new managing director at Dad’s Garage Theatre, is one strong mother. The longtime Aurora Theatre executive — who served as its managing director since 2020 after working there in various roles since 2008 — shifted from the Lawrenceville venue to Atlanta’s improv church in Old Fourth Ward last fall. Her focus is on the organization’s future as it approaches its third decade of existence.

“What’s exciting for me about Dad’s being on the cusp of its 30th birthday is that we don’t always have to look back,” Pelkey said in an interview. “We have to figure out how we look forward and tell the story of our next 10 years, our next 15 years. And I think that’s a harder thing to wrap your head around.”

She knows what she’s doing. While working at Aurora, Pelkey played a key role in its growth by heading multiple giving campaigns, including a $5-million capital campaign to support the expansion of Aurora’s community impact. During the pandemic, she secured $1.5 million in government relief for the organization, ensuring its longevity. She began her career there in 2008 as a stage manager, fresh out of college. During her tenure in leadership, Aurora partnered with the city in building the Lawrenceville Arts Center.

“There was a lot of on-the-job training in the last five years that I was at the Aurora,” she said. “It taught me a lot of perseverance.”

With her home base still in Lawrenceville, she also takes care of her two sons, Maxwell and Alexander, ages 8 and 5

“I have two wonderful little boys; they’re my life,” Pelkey said. “They’re very excited about Mommy having a new job, but they’re also disappointed they don’t get to rule the roost at Aurora anymore.”

Jon Carr, the executive producer at Dad’s Garage who worked with Pelkey at the Aurora, said she’s exactly what Dad’s Garage needs.

“She is exceptional,” Carr said. “She brings the seasoned perspective of a theater leader, along with a sense of humor that fits perfectly. She’s exactly the kind of person to drive Dad’s Garage toward becoming a leading arts organization.”

One of Pelkey’s focuses will be on expanding the philanthropy and community outreach programs that Dad’s already has in place, such as its partnerships with the Centers for Disease Control and programming in cities throughout the metro area.

But for her initial months on the job, Pelkey said her first goal was to listen and learn how Dad’s Garage uniquely operates.

“One of the things that I was told by friends when I began this position is to slow your roll a little bit on asking to make changes — not because it’s a bad thing; not because they’re doing something wrong,” she said. “But you should get to know the institution that you’re working in, get to know the people that you’re working with and the community that you’re in. That’s where the learning is coming in.”

Her primary previous experience with Dad’s Garage was working as a stage manager on an Aurora co-production of A Fox on the Fairway, directed by Kevin Gillese in 2012. When she began interviewing for the role, she started attending shows at the Ezzard Street venue in secret, just to see what programs such as Improvised Dungeons & Dragons were like.

Dad’s Garage Theatre runs six nights of programming a week at its main venue. It also operates multiple levels of improv classes at the nearby Inman Park Community Church. Pelkey’s role oversees, in a way, everything that Dad’s Garage is involved in.

“Basically, managing directors just do everything,” she said. “We pick up the pieces, keep the strategic and operational goals moving forward for the organization. I handle a lot of the financials, making sure that everything is in line and that we can pay for what we’ve got to pay for — and that the organization is sustainable.”

Though it’s a lot of responsibility, Pelkey says she’s having a great experience. 

“I have not laughed and giggled this much in a long time,” she said.

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Benjamin Carr is an ArtsATL editor-at-large who has contributed to the publication since 2019 and is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, the Dramatists Guild, the Atlanta Press Club and the Horror Writers Association. His writing has been featured in podcasts for iHeartMedia, onstage as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and online in The Guardian. His debut novel, Impacted, was published by The Story Plant.