Kaiser Permanente is dissolving its award-winning Educational Theatre programming wing, a decision that by summer will cost about 70 people their full-time jobs, including two in Colorado.
Since 1986, Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre has aspired to empower students to make healthy choices by bringing theatrical productions and interactive workshops to schools wherever KP has a medical presence – including Colorado – with storytelling that encompassed substance abuse, self-esteem, bullying, alternatives to violence, coping skills and more. The mission also offered programs promoting resilience for teachers in school environments.
KP’s educational programming has been a major source of quality employment for Colorado teaching artists for 40 years, at one time supporting up to 30 full and part-time jobs in Colorado. But the department was first gutted in a 2018 cost-cutting frenzy, when the staff was reduced to three full-time jobs plus interns and contract workers. That wave eliminated the job held by Jada Suzanne Dixon, now artistic director of Curious Theatre.
The program was further pared by the pandemic shutdown, and soon will be no more.
“This was a difficult business decision, and we thank and appreciate all those in Educational Theatre who helped build and deliver this impactful service over many years,” KP Vice President of Strategic Customer Engagement Susan K. Hassan wrote in an email to some KP staff on Jan. 6.
One of the Colorado jobs impacts Betty Hart, also president of the Colorado Theatre Guild. She had no comment on the news but on Facebook said it has been her honor to work for KP in various capacities for the past 25 years. “I am grateful for all the extraordinary people I’ve met and befriended along the way, as well as all the skills I’ve obtained,” she wrote.
Stephanie Ledesma, KP’s Senior Vice President of Community and Social Health, called the move not an elimination of programming but rather a “transformation.” She said KP “plans to transition both oversight and delivery of our Educational Theatre program to an external partner, beginning mid-2025.”
She continued: “We have been evaluating each of our programs to ensure we can deliver impact at scale with our community and social health work to enable our mission and align to our organizational business objectives.”
Translation: It cost too much. Kaiser Permanente posted a $608 million operating loss in the third quarter of 2024.
Most of the job losses were immediate, but “a subset of staff will be retained through June to help deliver key programming previously booked for the spring of 2025, and to help with the transition of the KP programs to a new partner,” she said. “Working with an external partner, we believe we can support schools, students, educators and districts across our footprint in a more impactful way. We are currently evaluating community partners to manage these programs on our behalf beginning in the fall of 2025.”
Boulder indie-folk hero Gregory Alan Isakov is again teaming up with the Colorado Symphony in August.
Colorado Symphony news
The Colorado Symphony has announced a public life celebration for former CEO and Board Chair Jerome H. Kern at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Boettcher Concert Hall. Pianist Natasha Paremski, cellist Zuill Bailey and members of the Colorado Symphony will perform.
Kern died Dec. 13 at age 87. His time with the symphony encompassed two separate terms, including his last 11 seasons stewarding the organization’s leadership efforts. During Kern’s term as CEO, which ended Sept. 2, 2021, he raised over $80 million and successfully negotiated a three-year lease agreement with the city of Denver for the continued use of Boettcher.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Colorado Symphony in Kern’s memory are encouraged at 1245 Champa St., Denver, CO 80204, or online at coloradosymphony.org….
The Symphony has also announced a special two-night event with Gregory Alan Isakov on April 18-19 at Boettcher Concert Hall.
Isakov will also play expanded songs from his most recent release, “Appaloosa Bones.” Resident Conductor Christopher Dragon will hold the baton. And $1 from each ticket sold will be donated to the California Community Foundation Wildfire Relief Fund. Tickets on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at 303-623-7876 or coloradosymphony.org.
Aimee Mann performed at the Boulder Theater in November 2024.
Aimee Mann’s new stage musical
Aimee Mann, perhaps best known as the lead singer of ’Til Tuesday and for radio hits like “Voices Carry,” is developing a bonafide stage bio-musical right here in Colorado. On Jan. 23-24, Mann and a team of actors will present “a stripped-down, musical-theater concert-reading version” of her classic album, “The Forgotten Arm.” The stage show is being dubbed as “a tender and darkly comic tale of recovery, loss, and love.”
The indie icon has lived a wild life worthy of the stage, including a childhood kidnapping and a repressive southern childhood that left her with PTSD. Mann wrote the musical with playwright Jonathan Marc Sherman, and it is directed by the legendary Oskar Eustis, artistic director of New York City’s Public Theater. Tickets at tickets.entcenterforthearts.org.
History Colorado bolsters Central City Opera
History Colorado’sState Historical Fund has awarded $5.6 million to 36 preservation projects across Colorado, nearly half in rural counties. One gifts the Central City Opera House Association with $250,000 to renovate and restore its historic Williams’ Stables directly across the street from the Central City Opera House and the Teller House Hotel.
The stables used to house the horses and carriages that brought guests to the opera and hotel. Central City plans to convert the structure, built in 1876, into a year-round black-box theater and event space. In the 1910s, the stables hosted square dances.
Metallica will be touring North America in spring 2025, with a stop in Denver in late June for two nights.
Briefly …
Jefferson Starship is heading to the Phil Long Music Hall in Colorado Springs on Feb. 15 as part of the legendary band’s 50th anniversary “Runaway Again Tour.” Its ever-rotating lineup will include 86-year-old co-founder David Freiberg. This will be the band’s only Colorado stop. So if you’re jonesing for “Jane,” head to phillongmusichall.yapsody.com …
Speaking of, Metallica’s 2025 world tour will stop at Mile High Stadium on June 27 and 29. The band is promising no repeat songs between the two setlists. Also on the bill: Pantera, Limp Bizkit, Suicidal Tendencies and Ice Nine Kills. Tickets on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at metallica.com.