Antismoking Opera Tours Schools

Tools

By Laura Kennedy

Story Published: Mar 2, 2011 at 8:20 PM MDT

Story Updated: Mar 3, 2011 at 2:24 PM MDT

BILLINGS - A Billings opera company is on the road to teach kids about the dangers of tobacco.

More than 100 students at Washington Elementary learned about the dangers of cigarettes with a performance of "The Night Harry Stopped Smoking" Wednesday. "I thought it was great. Had a great message, it's a good message for the kids to hear that I don't think they hear enough. Underage smoking and smoking as a whole is a big problem so it's good for them to hear that message," Washington Elementary Health Enhancement Teacher Josh Miller said.

In the opera, the main character, Harry, takes an imaginary trip into his lungs to learn about the harmful effects of his smoking habit. Rimrock Opera produced the musical as an educational way to introduce kids to performing arts. "I think it's something they're very receptive to and producing it with comedy and dance, they can laugh about it, but they can also get the message behind it," Rimrock Opera Education Director Kristy Dallas said.

Miller said this is a unique way to reinforce a lesson already in the school curriculum. "I think we'll talk about it in our health classes this week and we talk about it towards the end of the year anyway, so this will be a good supplement to that," Miller said.

Dallas said it is important to reach kids before they turn 18 to keep them smoke free for life. "When you have a really younger child coming up to you and saying my mom smokes and I'm really concerned about her, you know you've gotten your message through," she said.

"The Night Harry Stopped Smoking" will show at ten Billings elementary schools. Rimrock Opera also performed at Boulder Elementary School Wednesday. They head to Hardin and Roberts in early March.

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 1000 Characters Left

KULR-8 News, Sports, Weather and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum.

Your Weather Authority

Icon
Current Temp 84.0 °F
Partly Cloudy
Wind : Variable at
6.9 mph
Humidity : 15 %
Pressure : 29.75 in
More Weather

Party America Sky Cam

More Weather

On Demand

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.