Primrose Road

According to its own press releases, the NEA's Shakespeare for a New Generation program, part of the Shakespeare in American Communities initiative, serves to "introduce more students to the magic of live theater." Certainly (in my very humble opinion) more students should be introduced to this very real "magic." I'd like to pose a question to the readers of this blog (even those who show up here because of searches for "saturn in the eighth house" and "breast moles"): In your opinion, is "Shakespeare" an effective tool for sparking students' interest in live theater in general?