If you’re a theater kid in high school and decide that’s what you want to do with the rest of your life, you’re familiar with the moment you tell your family you’re taking out college loans to major in theater.

Even your most supportive parent can’t hide a fleeting grimace as they think, “You may see yourself becoming a great writer or actor but the only role you’re writing for yourself is a person whose actual career will be waiting tables.”

Jenni

Jenni Daniel started down this path. In fact, she went a long way down it. Jenni has an MA in Theater, from the University of London.

Before she got too far into table-waiting, Jenni got another post-graduate degree. This one was an MBA from the A.B.Freeman School of Business at Tulane University.

Today, Jenni is Vice President of Institutional Advancement at the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. In an organization of 29 staff members who work to financially support access to arts, culture, education and history in Louisiana, Jenni’s responsible for private and corporate fundraising. And she manages the marketing team.

Jenna

Dr. Jenna Winston, went to Tulane too.

Jenna had the foresight to study a subject that leads to a professional career. She earned a Ph.D in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience. When Jenna graduated from college, what did she do? She went into theater!

Jenna is the founder of New Orleans Youth Theater, made up of theater kids between the ages of 4-18. And it’s a rare type of theater company – nobody has to audition to get in. Any kid who wants to attend is accepted. If they can’t afford the approximately $400 per semester tuition, the theater will help with a needs-based scholarship.

Jenna founded New Orleans Youth Theater in 2022. Members of the company learn voice, dance and acting, and perform full-length musicals. And, despite what you might assume, New Orleans Youth Theater is not a non-profit. It’s a legit, for-profit business that makes legit theater.

Louisiana Chronicles

The relationship between New Orleans and Louisiana is unique. In most other cities in the US, people naturally append the name of the state to the name of their hometown. Austin Texas. Miami Florida. Denver Colorado. You very rarely hear anyone here describe our city as anything other than, simply, New Orleans.

That’s because, if there is a typical Louisiana city, New Orleans isn’t it. Actually, it’s hard to put your finger on what a typical Louisiana city or town would be. The lifestyles and culture in places like Alexandria and Shreveport are vastly different from other communities, like Eunice or Venice.

Celebrating these differences and weaving them into a commonality among all of us in the 64 parishes of Louisiana is what the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities is all about. And celebrating the differences among a vast array of New Orleans kids and melding them into a common purpose of artistic expression is what New Orleans Youth Theater is all about.

Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.