Coming soon to a school near you…
The Energized Guyz teaches valuable lessons
“Open your eyes, be energy wise!” In cafeterias, auditoriums and gymnasiums across the Tennessee Valley, excited groups of children raise their voices to a fever pitch, repeating this phrase along with the characters on the stage.
Nikki Neutron, played by Haley Chamberlain, helps students learn ways to use energy wisely during a performance of The Energized Guyz at Sevierville Primary School.
Each performance of the play The Energized Guyz closes with superhero Nikki Neutron and her audience promising to use energy wisely, thereby defeating arch-villain The Sneaker, a known energy waster.
This live theatre program is sponsored by TVA and local power companies to teach elementary school children about energy efficiency, renewable energy and water conservation.
Bert the Dirt Farmer, played by Jerome York, explains to students that switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs can help them save energy at home. York plays a variety of characters in the National Theatre for Children performance of The Energized Guyz.
Actors from the National Theatre for Children, a Minnesota-based educational theater company, are on tour this school year to teach more than 250,000 children the importance of saving energy.
The hero of The Energized Guyz, Nikki Neutron, is trying to find out all she can about how electricity is made, how it is wasted and how it can be saved. Along the way, she learns about renewable-energy resources and ways to save water and energy. In the end, Nikki recruits a student volunteer to help confound The Sneaker’s energy-wasting ways.
“If we can teach youngsters about the need to conserve energy, not only will they encourage their families to become more diligent, but they also will be more likely to practice what they’ve learned when they become adults,” says Joe Hoagland, vice president of Energy Efficiency & Demand Response.
After the performance at East Fannin Elementary in Morganton, Ga., 4th-grade teacher Mary Jean Pace said, “The kids were enthralled and so was I! It was cool to see a dramatic skit that did not include killing or violence, but rather something valuable to improve the quality of our lives.”
Performances continue through the end of December at more than 200 elementary schools. Several hundred additional performances will be scheduled for spring 2009.