Readers’ Theatre

Readers’ Theatre is a great tool for the classroom for many reasons:

  • It is great fun and motivates good attention,
  • It does not require memorization so takes less time than a theatre production,
  • The choice of play offers opportunities to integrate various subjects,
  • It respects the learning styles of active children,
  • It encourages children with reading difficulties to learn to read “their part” fluently, to gain success in reading a small part,
  • It leaves plenty of scope for gifted learners to interpret and improvise,
  • It develops memory, fluent reading, sequential thinking, debating skills and much more.

There are many ways of doing Readers’ Theatre. Here are a few suggestions based on my experiences with regular English, Early French Immersion and Special Education classes.

  1. Start by presenting the plot of the play to motivate participation, accentuating the funny and the action parts to entice students to want to act or to help produce the play. Two plays may be read and the class invited to choose one by voting.
  2. Describe the technique briefly and let students know that there are different approaches such as:
  • “Radio format”, where all readers stand in a semi-circle on stage reading their parts with voice expression and gestures but no movement around the stage. This can be “jazzed up” with a dramatic entry to upbeat music. On cue, all readers come on stage stand in a semi-circle, do a deep bow and again on cue take their scripts from behind their backs and hold them in reading position. Each “actor” then introduces him or herself: “I am Melanie Ledding reading the Narrator’s part”. As the play finishes, the readers bow and leave the stage together to the tune of music from the beginning.
  • Acting Readers’ Theatre: The reader-actors line up on either side of the stage in order of entry, scripts in hand. They come on stage, move around and exit according to the requirements of the play. At the end, they return on stage in a semi-circle with their scripts for a final bow in which they may include a “Script Wave”!
  1. Get to know the play. Do a “dry-run”, distributing the script to each student and reading through the play without assigning parts. For primary classes, ask good readers to participate in the reading. For junior and intermediate classes, distribute the script to each student and read the play together, either round the class or ad hoc parts chosen.
  2. List all characters in order of appearance and all jobs needed to do a Readers’ Theatre on chart paper. Depending on the number of roles and jobs, have at least two teams for the different roles and tasks.
  3. How to connect students to different roles and jobs? Start by asking for volunteers for the first character. If there are only two volunteers for two teams, they are slotted onto the chart paper right away. If there should be only one volunteer, that person goes on the chart leaving the other slot blank. If there are more than two volunteers, give each a piece of paper to write their names on, and draw two names that go on the chart paper. The others are free to volunteer for another role or job. Proceed through all the roles and jobs in this way until all slots are filled. At the end, there may be one or two students who object to what is left, and they may have a suggestion for a new job they would like to do. Any roles or jobs that are left blank are then filled by volunteers who will hold two jobs. The aim is to have everyone doing something for which they have volunteered. This strategy is fair and choice-based.
  4. Next, each team has a turn to do Readers’ Theatre with the play, paying attention to gestures, vocal and facial expressions, as well as actions, entrances, exits and movements on stage.
  5. Consider having a class discussion about each character: imagined appearance, personality, probable emotions during the play, suggestions for gestures, facial and vocal expression. Ask students to practice their parts in front of a mirror at home and then with a partner.
  6. It is time to do the Readers’ Theatre for another class, to add the motivation of an audience. Follow up with a discussion back in the classroom on the success of the interpretations.
  7. For a Readers’ Theatre production, students can prepare a simple set with props. Another option is to project a photograph or a student drawing using Power Point on a screen behind the actors to “set the stage”.

It is a big step to graduate from Reader’s Theatre to producing a play with memorized script, movements on stage, and co-coordinated with sound effects, but this is a unique and unforgettable experience that students report having enjoyed decades after leaving school!