An increasing skepticism toward the value of academic theater, argues Franklin J. Himes, is threatening the dramatic arts' continuation as an independent discipline. The Janus paradigm presents a gateway through which American academic theater and theater-derived media may enter upon a more socially vital course of training to meet the socio-economic demands of the 21st century.

Review Arguing that the state of training in the dramatic arts in the US has been drastically worsened in 20th century under the weight of scholastic businesses that count on high student turnover and stress narrow fields of study isolated from general knowledge and societal issues, the author explains a paradigm which connects social responsibility to the training of aspiring actors. The aim of the paradigm is to articulate the development of an interdisciplinary, cooperative program in theatre which promotes and nurtures individual genius. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)