I am making a High School Musical cake for my daughter's birthday.
I want to make a sugar cookie dough and cut out lettering and place gold dragees onto to the letters for the lights.
I am concerned that if I place the balls on the cookies before baking, they will turn black.
Any suggestions?

I am no expert by any means, I don't know if they will turn black, but are you going to ice or glaze the cookies red? If so I would stick them on after that. I think they will be pretty time consuming depending on the spacing you do, but such a great idea! I think that will look so good!

Thanks andpotts.
I wasn't planning to ice or glaze them.
Therefore, I am not sure how to attach the balls.
I may have to resort to icing, but I like the look without icing, as from pictures I have seen, that looks closest to the original lettering color.

I have no idea if the dragees would turn color or not during baking, but if you want the cookies to be un-iced and want to attach the dragees afterward, you could "glue" them on with a dot of royal icing or piping gel after the cookies have cooled.