In this article, the author suggests that the dichotomy that so frequently plagues debates about theatre for young people and whether or not it should have an educational or "interventionist" agenda may be misconceived. He suggests that the use of theatre in "applied contexts" (whether schools, museums, young offender institutions, prisons, or other community settings), and driven by agendas other than artistic, can be both interventionist and aesthetically appealing, indeed that the artistic and the instrumental are--at least in the best practice--interdependent. His argument asserts that theatre that aims to educate or influence can only do so if it values entertainment, the artistry, and craftsmanship that are associated with resonant, powerful theatre, and the aesthetic qualities that will appeal to the senses. More specifically, this discussion will focus on the notion of the "dialogic" and try to make connections between the Freirean and Bakhtinian notions of dialogic as a way of arguing that the aesthetic and the "instrumental" do not have to be opposed, rather that the dialogic can be (should be) at the heart of any theatre experience that is powerful, moving, and educationally provocative. (Contains 32 endnotes.)