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Kaiser brings healthy theater to Give Every Child a Chance students
Kaiser--Theater-Pic-2
Brogan Kildorv focuses on the performance that carries a message aimed at increasing healthy eating habits for young students. - photo by JASON CAMPBELL/The Bulletin
Forget Mamma Mia or the Phantom of the Opera.

For the hundreds of Give Every Child a Chance students that poured into the Sequoia Elementary School multipurpose room recently, the four-person “Best of Me” assembly being presented by Kaiser Permanente was all of the theater that they needed.

And it’s a safe bet that most took the message – which preaches making small changes in your daily routine to drastically affect your overall health – home with them when they left.

“We wanted to make the message of the show really simple to understand, and have it be something that the students can relate to,” said group road manager and performer Charisse Loriaux. “We get a positive response from this assembly, and it’s something that the students seem to like.”

The hour-long performance focuses on four elementary-aged students – Max (Jeff Moran), Tino (Sam Valenzuela), Dani (Karla Acosta), and Kayla (Loriaux) – that are each dealing with their own respective problems as it pertains to their overall health and how to improve it as they grow older.

While Max enjoys playing video games, he often chooses to spend more time focusing on the screen than he does his own friends. Tino let junk food and soda become part of his regular diet and affect his performance on the soccer field, while Kayla has trouble figuring out how to stay active even when she can’t play outside.

It’s Dani, however, that serves as the lynchpin for the entire four-person crew.

All four students were initially preparing to act in an annual play produced by Dani’s grandmother, but an undisclosed illness – later revealed to be Type 2 diabetes – forces her to cancel and leave everything up to the four confused friends.

With music, dancing, and a high-energy performance, the group got only the attention of the kids in attendance, but got them intimately involved with the production and held their attention for the entire show.

“The four things that we want students to remember when they leave is to drink water instead of soda and juice, limit their screen time to an hour a day, eat fruits and vegetables, and get at least an hour of exercise,” Loriaux said. “That’s the message that we’re hoping to get across through programs like this.”

For more information of the “Best of Me” assembly or the other performances that Kaiser Permanente offers, visit  www.kp.org/etp.