The program doesn't cost taxpayers a cent because the total cost is picked up by Broadway producers.
Eyewitness News tagged along as students from the Bronx came to Broadway as part of the program, which introduces young people to the best of the Great White Way.
Without an audience, it's been said there is no theater, and that the future of Broadway depends on making theater meaningful for a younger generation - which is the idea behind Open Doors."Just the simple idea that we recognize that culturally, we exist in many communities and to understand and build a bridge to the other one," said Thomas Schumacher, president of Disney Theatricals - home of "The Lion King" and "Mary Poppins."
Schumacher is one of 21 Broadway pros who has introduced high school students to the magic of live theater.
On a recent afternoon he took a group from The Bronx to see "War Horse."
"I really thought it was amazing," he said. "I never cry, but I almost cried. It brought out the inner child in me. I loved it."
The "Open Doors" project was the brainchild of the late playwright Wendy Wasserstein.
"Wendy had this idea that the theater shouldn't be this affluent thing for just affluent people, that it was sort of your right as a New Yorker to go to the theater," Schumacher said.
The program is paid for and administered by the Theater Development Fund - best known for its booth in Time Square. Students are chosen to participate-based on essays they submit.
A discussion over pizza and soda follows each performance.
From him, the students get inspiration. But from them, he gets even more.
"I see the world differently every time I sit down with them and have a discussion," he said. "And the experience of going to the theater with these kids, watching it through them, getting to know them, it's deep for me."
Shumacher said the specific comments of students in the past actually helped him improve his own shows, such as "The Little Mermaid." He also feels he has benefited from the generosity of his mentors, and it only makes sense for him to try and do the same for others.
Click here for more on the Open Doors program.
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