EDUCATIONAL OR INSTITUTIONAL PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
KAISER PERMANENTE’S EDUCATIONAL THEATRE (KPET)
Kaiser Permanente
Since 1986, Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre (KPET) has provided free health education assemblies and workshops to students and families throughout Southern California, touching the lives of more than 7.3 million students and adults. KPET addresses the topics of literacy promotion, conflict management, stress management, healthy eating and active living, bullying awareness, and STD prevention. Through its programs, KPET inspires children, teens and adults to make healthy choices and build stronger communities.
Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre program has positively impacted over 7.3 million students and adults. Many of those who have benefited from these programs are in high-risk areas with limited financial resources and would not have received these educational messages and programs without KPET’s community education and prevention efforts.
In 2018 alone, KPET provided 1,866 performances, workshops and other educational outreach to 228,968 students and adults; 91% of all services were provided in high-risk, under-resourced communities.
Theatre engages audiences in ways that a lecture or handout cannot. ET actors, trained in health education, reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. In collaboration with teachers, parents, educators and medical professionals, KPET designs and delivers developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive programs. The audiences identify with the characters on stage. The characters overcome health challenges, inspiring students to do the same.
