Notable trends in the overrepresentation of African American males in special education programs are highly discussed in previous research. Significantly devastating are the lack of social skills developments necessary for special education high school graduates' ability to function as adults. Hypothetically the researcher anticipated that dramatic arts engagement will impact the student's self-esteem, self-concept, self-expectations, and academic development. This research sought to learn of the impact of students' exposure to dramatic arts and applied theater for the purposes of social skills development. Mixed methods of qualitative and quantitative studies were used in this research. Data were collected before and after participation in the DA production performance. To analyze the data Rosenberg's Self-Esteem scale scoring, Likert Scale scoring, and theming the data were applied. Interviews, surveys, observations, dramatic arts participation, focus group, and participatory action research tools were used in the data collecting process. My reason for choosing the specific data collecting tools was to accumulate ample data to support the thesis. This study was used to encourage authentic storytelling of African American males and their experiences relating to special education programs. Study participants' perspectives of parents, teachers, peers, dramatic arts audience, participatory action and focus groups were included in the data and findings. Findings identified significant changes in key participant's self-esteems, self-concepts, and self-expectations following participation in the dramatic arts. The implication drawn from this study is that participation in the dramatic arts significantly impacts self-esteem, self-concept, and self-evaluation. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]