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Elmo, friends coming to Tinker

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  • Armed Forces News Service
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  The Sesame Street/USO Experience for Military Families, a free traveling USO show based on Sesame Workshop's award winning "Talk, Listen, Connect" initiative and produced in partnership with Vee, is back in the United States after an around-the-world tour.

The show, which is which is geared toward military families, will take place at the Tinker base theater on July 21 and 22. There will be three shows: at 2:30 p.m. July 21 and 2:30 and 6:30 p.m. July 22. Admission is free and is open to all Department of Defense ID card holders and their families.

Audiences will experience a 25-minute character performance and receive promotional items and outreach materials, officials said. The program addresses the concerns of today's military families such as sometimes lengthy separations due to deployments. Elmo, Grover, Cookie Monster, Rosita and Zoe are all helping young children cope with these challenging transitions.

The Sesame Street Workshop/USO partnership put on its first show in July 2008. Since then, The Sesame Street/USO Experience for Military Families has traveled more than 45,000 miles to 76 bases in nine countries. More than 120,000 service members and families have been entertained during 176 shows.

"The momentum that this show has gathered since it first performed for military kids and families is unbelievable," said Gary Knell, the Sesame Workshop president and CEO. "To see how families come together and then use the messages from the show to talk to their kids is the greatest reward that we could ask for. We at Sesame Workshop are thrilled to continue this work with our partners and friends at the USO and reinforce our commitment to military families."

Sloan Gibson, the USO president, noted the positive impact the tour is having on the military community.

"The fact that more than 100,000 troops and family members have attended these shows so far speaks volumes about the tour's relevance to today's military," the USO president said. "We listen to our troops and understand the challenges they face at home, and are proud to call Sesame Workshop our partner in helping to ease the daily stresses on military families."

The USO is a not-for-profit organization and is not part of the Department of Defense. No federal endorsement of the USO or this Sesame Street Experience for Military Families is intended.

(Courtesy of American Forces Press Service from a USO news release.)