Barbara Storper, MS, RD

Greetings! Our goal at FoodPlay is to use the power of fun-filled live theater and innovative resources to help improve the eating and physical activity habits of the nation’s youth.

We look forward to working with you to present the highest-quality programming and resources to inspire kids to see through media messages and peer group pressures in order to take charge of growing up healthy, happy, and fit. We also know that it takes a healthy village to raise a healthy child, so we very much look forward to working with you to create that healthy village…and healthy world.”

A national leader in the field of children’s nutrition, Barbara founded FoodPlay Productions in 1982 to help improve the nutrition and health habits of our nation’s children and families. Barbara combines her background in journalism, theater arts, and nutrition to write, direct, produce, and present national touring theater shows, media campaigns, video kits, and resources to empower kids with the skills they need to make their choices, healthy ones. Barbara is also a popular conference speaker and training facilitator, helping educators, health professionals, and school nutrition staff spark creativity and make nutrition come alive!

While working as a nutrition intern with the New York City Board of Education in 1982, I was asked to present a lecture on nutrition to an inner city school in Brooklyn. A lecture…on nutrition…to 400 kids? How boring I thought. I considered how powerful the advertisers were promoting junk foods to kids, and thought, why don’t we use similar techniques to get kids excited about healthy foods? What could be as powerful as the food industry’s bag of tricks?

Live Theater! I always loved theater, and at the time had taken several courses in juggling, clowning, storytelling, and puppetry. Together with my colleague, Steve Schneider, we created and presented our first FOODPLAY show to an auditorium filled with enthusiastic young fans! After the show, the food service staff were amazed to see how kids were eating their vegetables, choosing regular milk instead of chocolate milk, and telling their families about the 10 teaspoons of sugar in a can of Coke! The NYC Board of Education sent us to elementary schools throughout the five boroughs, and FOODPLAY was born!

How Far We’ve Come! We’ve had the great fortune to bring our live theater shows and resources to more than 5,000,000 children across the country – from New York to Alaska! And, we’ve been honored to work with organizations to create and present culturally relevant programs and media sparked with a little magic and creativity to inspire kids to see through media messages and make their choices healthy ones!

We created an Emmy-Award-Winning TV Special, Janey Junkfood’s Fresh Adventure!, thanks to sponsorship by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation! Brought FOODPLAY programs to hundreds of schools every year, thanks to a groundbreaking partnership with Hannaford Supermarkets. We produced This Is Your Life! a live show using improv techniques to help adolescents make healthy choices, thanks to grants from the MA Department of Public Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and United Healthcare. We collaborated with wonderful theater folks based in Philadelphia and Atlanta to create and produce specially designed shows for urban youth including Lil Red Riding Thru Da Hood and FoodPlay’s Fresh Adventure!

We are currently producing several Activity Kits to help schools and community organizations create their own shows and programs, putting kids in the drivers seats, enabling programs to address the unique culture, food ways, and demographics of their populations.  We know that the more children can be involved in their own learning and discovery, the more impactful nutrition education can be. We see that children can be the best health advocates for themselves, their families, and their communities, once they are empowered with the skills needed to see through media messages and make choices that are good for their health and good for the health of the planet.

Barbara received her Masters in Nutrition from Columbia University Teachers College; BA in Journalism from the University of Michigan; and Registered Dietitian License at Tufts University-New England Medical Center. She has extensive training in theater, storytelling, circus arts, clowning, puppetry, and improvisation.

Barbara is a popular Conference Speaker and media spokesperson, inspiring parents and educators with creative approaches to raising healthy, media savvy children (view list of conferences).  She has been able to bring her FoodPlay shows throughout the United States including a tour of Alaska, and traveled extensively throughout Mexico. She is interested in working with local communities to help create evidence-based programs to create the “healthy villages” needed to raise healthy children. She is also a consultant to the public and private sector developing innovative partnerships and media campaigns to promote children’s health. Barbara enjoys being a preceptor for dietetic interns and nutrition students in various colleges and universities, helping to bring creativity into their life’s work!

For almost a decade, Barbara was the Media Spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Nutrition Resource Center where she promoted nutrition through radio, TV, and the press. She was the nutrition columnist for the Rhode Island Providence Journal, Lowell Sun, Boston Herald, and the Boston and Rhode Island Parents Papers.

Barbara has been honored with a host of nutrition and media awards including an Emmy Award for “Best Children and Youth TV Special” for a made-for-TV show based on FoodPlay. She received the “Distinguished Alumni Award” from Columbia University Teachers College and “Outstanding Young Nutrition Educator Award,” “Media Partnership Award,” and “Best Public Health Program Award” from the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior.  More Awards

Catch Barbara on iHeart Radio Show as she describes how FoodPlay uses the power of live theater to turn kids on to healthy habits.  Listen Here