Arts programs have much value to offer children and educators alike, and so it is important to seek avenues for providing these enriching opportunities. Emerging from the collective and personal traumas experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, arts programming may play an especially important role in welcoming students back to schools, particularly in under-resourced communities that were hit especially hard. There has been a lot of focus on "learning loss" during the pandemic, but there have been other costs as well. These costs have included relationship-building (and healing) and the "not-on-the-test" aspects of learning and development, such as arts and play. A study was done as the pandemic hit of a student performance program called Disney Musicals in Schools (DMIS). DMIS is a free program that jumpstarts musical theater in under-resourced elementary schools by providing schools with ShowKit materials for a 30-minute Disney KIDS musical and by connecting teachers with local professional teaching artists to help guide them through the process. These schools are often situated in low-income neighborhoods that serve large numbers of students of color; these same neighborhoods have been hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic. Findings showed that participating in these musical theater experiences, ranging from "The Lion King" to "The Jungle Book," helps students in all the ways one might expect, from improving language and social skills to being more engaged in class. Also of note was the impact the experience had on students' character, mental health, and emotional well-being. The program helped students discover their "courage" to tell their stories with their whole heart and voice. It was clear that helping to put on a musical for and in front of one's peers enabled young students to face all sorts of fears and persevere despite those fears.