National Tour in Support of School Community Mental Health Launches

In July, Imagination Stage, the metro DC region’s largest professional theatre for young audiences and leader in positive youth development through the arts, received an exclusive three-year grant from the Kaiser Permanente Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation to deliver educational theater programming to schools and communities nationally. The programming focuses on children’s mental health and is presented free of charge to participating schools. The goal is to inspire students to engage in supportive conversations about their emotional well-being and provide strategies that help students and educators build resilience. 

That programming has kicked off with Empathy Quest, a high-energy, extremely engaging piece, touring in California, the Mid-Atlantic, and Georgia this fall. Empathy Quest will reach approximately 25,000 elementary school students, with more regions and more programs being added in early 2026.  The show is aligned with principles of cognitive behavioral therapy and designed for students in grades 2-4 . In this highly interactive play, students engage in theatre-based exercises and games led by the Password Rangers, a team of dedicated helpers. When an AI glitch triggers a high-stakes countdown, students must step up as Junior Password Rangers to save the day alongside their new Ranger friends. It’s a race against time filled with learning, excitement, and the message that everyone needs help sometimes. The goals of the games are to develop empathy and gain tools in self-regulation. 

Also available is RISE UP, which stands for “Resilience in School Environments: Understanding and Practice.” An interactive virtual training workshop that uses arts-informed strategies, it is available nationally to educators and school staff. RISE UP, aims to help school communities utilize a social emotional approach to examine mental health challenges in the school environment and show  how to create a safe space. Participants use applied theatre skills to re-envision and rewrite a scene from the workshop which depicts a realistic teacher/student crisis moment.  Like Empathy Quest, this professional development experience allows staff to discover self-regulation strategies and the concept of trusted adults.

Imagination Stage’s Chief Artistic Programming Officer, Joanne Lamparter, says “We are fully aligned with Kaiser Permanente in their long-term commitment to arts-based learning as a way to support the wellness and mental health of young people. Empathy Quest and RISE Up are highly interactive and build a sense of community within the schools, while tapping into students' ability to understand their own feelings and be good empathetic classmates to one another. ”

• More information, including to request bookings for Empathy Quest and for RISE UP is here. 

• Learn more about Kaiser Permanente and Imagination Stage’s partnership here.

• See photos from a recent performance of Empathy Quest here. Photos by Giovana Roskosz Reis.

For more information, or to attend a performance, contact Laurie Levy-Page, Imagination Stage’s Sr. Director of Marketing and Communications.