Endorsements

“This is an important book about a golden moment in the history of Theatre for Young Audiences in the United States.  From 1936-1943 Junior Programs operated an ambitious national touring program that brought high quality theatre, opera and ballet to millions of young people, their families, schools and communities.  It was a time, not so different from our own when the rise of fascism, political turmoil and an impending war, threatened the very foundations of Democracy. Lancourt meticulously chronicles the principles of social justice that inspired the company's ‘Credo’, their innovative production processes, and the astonishing organizational structure that mobilized thousands of volunteers and local partnerships in small towns and large cities alike.  Junior Programs embraced many of the same values that we espouse in the world of TYA today: artistic excellence, community activism, educational relevance and a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Their legacy provides inspiration for us to recognize that the performing arts experiences for, with and about young people can be so much more than entertainment…they can be life-changing!”

— Suzan Zeder, President of the Board of Trustees, The Children’s Theatre Foundation of America

"Lancourt’s book is an extremely valuable read for TYA scholars and practitioners today because we must draw on so many lessons from Junior Programs' past: the power of activating theatre beyond simply a means of entertainment, towards a more just and equitable future for our young people. Junior Programs’ commitment to using theatre as an educational tool for young audiences’ development all across America is more crucial now than ever. This text opens a window for the reader into an extraordinary time in American TYA history, as we are faced with similar challenges in today’s society."

— Sara Morgulis, Executive Director, TYA/USA

“Joan Lancourt's masterfully-researched book is a treasury of insights into Junior Programs, an early twentieth-century theatre for young audiences. Their educational partnerships and productions, which range across theatre, ballet, and opera, offered a model for pedagogy and practice that should be an inspiration to educational theatres across the United States. More than Entertainment: Democracy and the Performing Arts is essential reading for scholars of 20th century American theatre and artists who believe in the theatre's ability to shape and change society”

— Noe Montez, Associate Professor of Theatre Studies, Emory University

“Junior Programs was a bold, innovative and visionary initiative to bring the performing arts to young people in communities across the United States. It is also an excellent early example of effective community engagement. Their approach, based on foundational American values of participatory democracy, diversity, equal access, social solidarity, civic activism, social and economic justice, relied on the creation of a local Sponsoring Committee in every community in which they performed. Field secretaries, acting in the best tradition of grassroots organizing, identified potential partners from civic clubs, schools, local government, religious institutions, local businesses, libraries, and neighborhood associations, and guided the formation of the sponsoring committees. This infrastructure of activist volunteers selected the productions, and were responsible for raising the financial resources, securing the venue, orchestrating the publicity, and managing ticket sales as well as all the logistics related to the local performance. Empty seats were a rarity!

Junior Programs accomplished all this at a time when democratic principles and institutions were under attack, domestically and internationally. Today, with these same anti-democratic forces in ascendance, grassroots organizers, youth workers, educators, librarians, clergy and civic activists as well as theater artists have much to learn from this remarkable enterprise—preparing the next generation for full citizenship in a democratic society.”

— Lee Staples, Professor Emeritus, Boston University School of Social Work;
author of Roots to Power: A Manual For Grassroots Organizing

“This book is an important documentation of Junior Program's pioneering programs. It chronicles a highly successful strategy with strong relevance to issues facing the field of TYA today. With its multifaceted approach, Junior Programs was extremely successful at addressing issues such as autocracy, racism, and xenophobia. And it is well documented that exposure to the arts, especially to quality theatre, has the ability to influence the perceptions, attitudes, and even behaviors of its youthful audience.”

— Moses Goldberg, Retired Artistic Director, Stage One: The Louisville Children's Theatre

“Given today's politics, and the danger we face of losing our democracy, the messages in Doodle Dandy of the U.S.A. are as relevant today as they were in 1942. We have the divide and conquer strategies of the bullies, the enablers letting "black clouds gather" to threaten our freedom, and collective citizen action as a countervailing force. It's all our current day saga. It's a prescient piece of theater, a call to vigilance, and a warning of the cost of doing nothing. Kudos to Junior Programs.”

— Benny Sato Ambush, Artistic Director, Venice Theatre, Florida

“Joan Lancourt’s fascinating history of Junior Programs, Inc. is the forgotten story of a highly successful professional touring theatre company that formed innovative partnerships with schools and communities across the nation, using theater, opera and ballet as a catalyst to introduce children to the excitement of cultural, racial and ethnic diversity, and to deepen the entire K-12 educational curriculum. Lancourt’s tale is more than history: it is an inspiring vision of the power of theatre to fan the flames of democracy for the next generation. If only all today's school activities had such rich and diverse outcomes.”

— Jeffrey Benson, K-12 teacher, school administrator; author of
10 Steps for Managing Change in Schools: How do we take initiatives
from goals to actions? and Improve Every Lesson Plan with SEL

“More Than Entertainment: Democracy and the Performing Arts recovers for us seemingly forgotten wisdom. Children are born to learn through engagement with the world, and to be members of communities.  Junior Programs reminds us that our survival as free people depends on adults taking special care to shape opportunities for children to learn to be citizens of democratic communities. As a public-school classroom teacher, assistant principal and principal for 28 years, I’ve seen American education get caught in the trap of dismissing the performing arts in pursuit of test scores. Tests don’t help children make sense of the world they live in, school partnerships with the performing arts do.”

— Joshua Frank, educator, administrator, and President of Equity Intersection, an educational nonprofit