Sesame Workshop and the American United Service Organizations (USO) are kicking off the fifth installment of the Sesame Street/USO Experience for Military Families tour with the support of First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden.

The free traveling tour, based on Sesame Workshop’s Talk, Listen, Connect (TLC) initiative, will kick off at a community event on April 14 in Columbus, Ohio.  The show will then embark on its global tour in Alaska later this month.

Aimed exclusively at military families, this year’s tour will unveil a new character named Katie – a military child relocating to a new home. Along with a 25-minute character performance, the show provides special giveaways and outreach materials.

Produced in partnership with the VEE Corporation, Sesame Street/USO Experience for Military Families made its debut in July 2008 to help families deal with the challenges of deployment and homecomings. To date, the tour has performed 315 shows for more than 192,600 service members and their families.  This phase of the tour will perform in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Korea, Turkey, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Spain.