(Joy Barua, director of community benefit and health policy at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii; Eric Johnson, artistic director at Honolulu Theatre for Youth; Lynn Cabato, director of Head Start program, Rudy Marilla, vice president of resource management and clinical operations at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii.)
By Staff Reports
(Oahu)– Princess Victoria Kaiulani Elementary School today welcomed Honolulu Theatre for Youth (HTY) to lead an interactive creative performance for students, exploring the use of educational theater as a way to engage preschoolers. HTY’s “Healthy & Happy Initiative” was created in partnership with Honolulu Community Action Program Head Start, and funded through a $20,000 community health grant provided by Kaiser Permanente.
“HTY and Head Start have created an engaging, inspired way to connect with preschool children through theater,” said Joy Barua, director of community benefit and health policy at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii. “Using physical movement, shared spaces and the use of imagination, they are able to share important concepts and start a dialogue with our keiki on what it means to live well, as individuals and as a community.”
Head Start, a federal program specializing in early childhood education, developed age-appropriate messages in conjunction with HTY’s production team. Characters and themes touched on how to deal with new experiences, unfamiliar feelings and fears as a way to promote emotional and mental health in young children, a main focus of the Healthy & Happy Initiative.
Lavour Addison and Brittni Shambaugh from Honolulu Theatre for Youth perform for preschoolers from Princess Victoria Kaiulani Elementary School as part of the Healthy and Happy Initiative on May 13, 2015.
“Using vibrant and compelling personalities to create characters is a wonderful way to connect with early learners,” said Lynn Cabato, director of the Head Start program. “Our teachers, parents and staff were delighted to work alongside HTY’s production team to develop emotional health messages that would resonate with young children through educational theater.”
“Theater has been shown to be highly effective in teaching children, helping them to learn and gain an understanding of issues, emotions and various ways of being in the world,” said Eric Johnson, artistic director at Honolulu Theatre for Youth. “Through our partnerships with Head Start and Kaiser Permanente, we hope to engage our youngest students and their families, giving them the resources they need to develop mental and emotional health.”
Nearly 300 preschoolers will participate in the Healthy & Happy Initiative in-school workshops and performances by the end of May. Additional showings by HTY are projected to reach nearly 6,000 statewide.