A Personal History of the First State-Created Theatre for Young Audiences in America
"Children's theatre is not the school play that youngsters do each year. Children's theatre or youth theatre is live theatre performed for children by mature, professional actors, dancers, musicians, and technicians. It has always disturbed me that people think of children's theatre as second-rate theatre - shoddy and poorly produced. Children's theatre is just no good if it isn't good theatre. And that is one of the guiding principles upon which the Theatre Institute has been founded." - John Houseman, Academy award-winning actor
New York Times theater critic Frank Rich wrote, the Theatre Institute "may well prove to be one of the most important theatrical institutions in the state, if not the entire country. - Frank Rich, New York Times Theatre Critic
"In the early 1970s, while chancellor at the State University of New York, we organized the Empire State Youth Theatre Institute which creatively used theatre in the schools to promote integrative learning across the disciplines. The arts in my judgment are at the core of learning because of the way they can knit it all together." - Ernest L. Boyer, United States Commissioner of Education
