Issue 46
Reader's Theatre

Welcome!

This month we are talking about Reader's Theatre. What is it? What does it accomplish? How do you stage it?

In This Issue

• WHAT?
  What is Reader's Theatre?
• WHY?
  Why use Reader's Theatre?
• HOW?
  How to prepare for Reader's Theatre.
• ADAPT?
  How do you adapt a novel for Reader's Theatre?
• EXERCISES
  Reader's Theatre Exercises.
• LETTERS
  A Reader's Theatre Script
• RESOURCES
  Online Resouces for Reader's Theatre
• STAY CONNECTED
  Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
• FREE RESOURCES
  Some amazing (and free!) resources for drama teachers.
• THEATREFOLK BLOG
  Theatrefolk talks!
• CONFERENCE ALERT
  Meet us in person.
• IN THE NEXT ISSUE
  What you can expect next.
• STAY IN TOUCH
  How to reach us.

WHAT?

Reader's Theatre is a dramatic reading of a text in front of an audience. The text could be from a play, but is just as likely to be from a novel, poem, an original short story or other literary work. There are no sets, lighting effects, costumes, movement or memorizing of lines.

Reader's Theatre is always presented simply, using narrators to move the story forward. The emphasis is on reading the text aloud. But it's important to emphasize that it's not just a reading. It is a 'dramatic reading' with defined characters, ensemble work, and attention paid to the sound of the piece.

Reader's Theatre is a useful classroom tool for all ages of students, but for this newsletter we're focusing on tools and techniques for the middle school and high school level. Hopefully, there is enough information here to guide students to choose and prep their own pieces.

WHY?

Theatrically, Reader's Theatre allows teachers to focus on the aural nature of a piece of literature. What do the characters sound like? How do you vocally interpret the characters? What kind of expression will you use? What images are created through the words? Does the aural influence the plot (e.g. fast short sentences, during a climatic moment)?

Reader's Theatre can easily involve the whole class and be put together in a much shorter time period than a traditional play.

But the theatrical side of Reader's Theatre is just the tip of the iceberg.

• Fluency: spoken or written with ease.
• Comprehension: the ability to understand.

Fluency and Comprehension are big watchwords when it comes to a student's reading skills. Reader's Theatre is an effective method for building fluency and comprehension. The more a student reads aloud, the easier reading becomes, the easier understanding occurs.

Reading aloud also helps to build reader confidence – many students hate reading out loud because they think they are poor readers and will be made fun of. Repeated oral reading helps poor readers become strong readers. An awesome combination of Theatre and Education!

HOW?

Choose the Material:

Any work of literature can be turned into Reader's Theatre. Poetry, short stories, memoirs, novels, and of course, plays. Your work of choice is going to depend on its intended use. Are you using it to take curriculum literature to another level? To push student reading skills? To introduce drama in the classroom? To give focus to a specific theatrical element such as the aural quality of a work?

When working with literature (outside of the theatre realm) here are a couple of things to be on the lookout for.

• Strong characters.
• Multiple characters.
• Dramatic situations.
• Active narration.

The most common choice is to use existing curriculum material. Classes prepare a Reader's Theatre piece and perform it for both themselves and for other classes. Taking a piece of literature and showing it through another medium helps build comprehension.

Prep the Material:

Prepping the material involves editing (if you're working on a larger novel) and dividing the text among your readers. See How to Adapt a Novel for examples and suggestions.

Even if you're not using a play as your text, it's important to treat the piece of literature as if it were a play. You'll find it helpful to re-type the text into play format. This way, students are less likely to be confused when it is their turn to speak. Also, each reader should highlight whatever they're going to say aloud.

If your students have never had experience with Reader's Theatre or if you're tackling a larger project like a classic novel, it might be more expedient to do the text preparation yourself: choose the material, divide up the text, make cuts as necessary. But if you're working on smaller works (e.g. a short story or a long poem) have students prep their own material. Work on an example as a class and then have students do their own.

Understand the Text:

Nothing shows a lack of understanding of a text than reading it aloud. Students need to comprehend a text on a couple of levels: What is happening in the story? What is the emotional tone of the moment? It has to be more than reading words on the page - readers should be able to concisely describe what's happening in the text, what's important in the text, and what's being expressed.

Click here two "Understanding the Text" Worksheets. One for novels and one for poetry.

Read with Expression:

• Expression: the power of expressing in words. A look or intonation expressing personal reaction, feeling.

Many students struggle with reading with expression. For them, it's simply words on a page. All they need to do is say them out loud, right? But this is a dramatic reading. When students add expression to their reading, when they comprehend what they're reading, the literature comes to life.

Sample expression elements:

• Tone: How does the text sound? Is there an emotion being expressed?
• Pacing: What is the inherent pacing in the text? Emotion is reflected in the sentence structure - length, punctuation, contractions - all hold clues to the pace.
• Pauses: Readers need to breathe. So do audiences! Pauses can be used to great effect in Reader's Theatre. They can offer a rest after a particularly dramatic or active moment. They can reflect a character making a difficult choice. 

Test expression with this paragraph from The Count of Monte Cristo. It's a highly dramatic and active moment for the main character Dante, as he comes up with a way to escape from jail.

Click to see the paragraph from The Count of Monte Cristo.

Have students practise the paragraph and answer the following:

1. What is the tone of the paragraph? Does the tone change?
2. What is the pace of the paragraph? What examples of sentence structure support your choice of pace?
3. What part of the paragraph is best suited to a pause?

Focused staging:

While there is no blocking or movement in Reader's Theatre, there are some physical elements to note. Will the readers stand in a line? Stay seated? Will they keep their backs to the audience when not speaking? How will students give focus to the speakers? Will students hold the scripts or have them on music stands? Music stands leave the hands free for gestures. Any actions need to be simple and easy.

Any action should be simple and not interfere with the sound of the reading. Think in terms of a ritualistic style of movement than a naturalistic form of blocking. It's important not to ignore the physical aspect or students will fidget and draw focus when they're not talking. Make the experience theatrical within the confines of the format.

Focused listening:

Not only does Reader's Theatre improve fluency and comprehension, it can be used to improve listening skills. Reader's Theatre is a team-building exercise in that everyone has to work together. Everyone must actively listen to one another so the text flows easily from one reader to the next.

ADAPT?

 We'll be using the novel format as our example of turning a piece of text into Reader's Theatre. By and large, the same process will apply for adapting poems, short stories etc.

We've included below four Reader's Theatre Adaptation Examples from novels. 

Two for Middle School:

• Anne of Green Gables (by Lucy Maud Montgomery)
• The Red Badge of Courage (by Stephen Crane).

And two for High School:

• Little Women (by Louisa May Alcott)
• The Count of Monte Cristo (by Alexandre Dumas)

All the examples mentioned in this section are from these four novels.

Marking Legend

Before you start adapting, come up with a markings legend. This way you and your students have a common system for marking a selection. When you first approach a text, you want to mark it up to divide narration from dialogue, make cuts, make note of sounds and actions. It'll make things easier in the long run if everyone use the same set of markings.

Marking Legend

N	Narrator
ALL N	All Narrators
N1, N2, N3.	Narrator One, Narrator Two, Narrator Three...
[    ]	Dialogue [put all dialogue in square brackets]
Circle	Circle tonal words (wretchedly, eagerly, hastily)
Strikeout or X out	Put a line or X through any cut material
A	Action. Indicates an action a Reader performs
underline	Underline text where multiple Readers speak

Step One: The Dialogue

First, focus on any dialogue in the text. Since the piece will be read aloud, there's no need for conventional 'he said, she said,' notations. Cut all the he said, she said, said so and so to make the conversations in the novel more like theatrical dialogue.

“There wasn't any boy,” said Matthew wretchedly. “There was only HER." becomes:  “There wasn't any boy. There was only HER.”

The exception to this would be if there was something after the line of dialogue that would add to the narration. For example, from Little Women:

“Christopher Columbus! What's the matter?” cried Jo, as Beth put out her hand as if to warn her off, and asked quickly...

I would have a reader say Jo's dialogue: “Christopher Columbus! What's the matter?”  and then a narrator come in with "cried Joe, as Beth put out her hand as if to warn her off, and asked quickly....."

The action adds to the urgency of the moment as does the emotion with which Jo says the line.

Next, note how dialogue is to be said. There are usually clues in the text that reveal the intended tone. Using Matthew's line above from Anne of Green Gables:

“There wasn't any boy,” said Matthew wretchedly. “There was only HER.”

The Reader must sound wretched, instead of having a narrator say the words 'said Matthew wretchedly.'

Lastly, make note of any sounds that characters make in the dialogue. Coughs, sighs, sobs, laughter should come from the reader, not a narrator.

Step Two: Cuts

Note: This step really doesn't apply if you are working on a poem or short story.

Whenever possible, you should do the full work. But cutting is unavoidable for longer works, such as The Count of Monte Cristo.

How do you cut? Follow these guidelines to cut a text while striving to keep its integrity.

• What is essential to the story? Remember your audience. They have to be able to follow the story. If the story is cut too severely it won't make sense.
• What is essential to the drama? It's Reader's Theatre. There has to be action and movement.
• What is essential for the characters? This one is a personal judgement call. Novels often have descriptive passages that tell us so much about a character, but pause the story and drag the drama. But sometimes it's important to explore a character further to give the audience a clearer picture. Decide whether information is important for the audience or if it can be cut and used by the reader to enhance their portrayal.

Here are some examples using our Novel Adapt samples (which you can find below)

Chapter 17 of Little Women focuses on whether or not Beth has Scarlet Fever from the Hummel's baby. I cut a discussion between the girls as to who was going to stay with Beth and who was going to tell Amy. Not necessary to the story, not necessary to the drama. I also cut a discussion as to who's going to get the doctor and whether or not Laurie had done his lessons. The drama and action, for me, should remain focused on Beth's illness. These cuts keep the story moving.

In Chapter 20 of The Count of Monte Cristo Dante attempts to escape from jail by hiding in the shroud of a fellow prisoner. I cut out a section where Dante worries the risks of the jailer returning to his cell and what could go wrong. Of course the character would have these worries, but the drama centres around his escape and that should be the focus.

Conversely, in Chapter 3 of Anne of Green Gables I kept description of Anne's first impression of her bedroom. The description is not just about the furniture but also the lonely, barren, icy, unfriendly atmosphere. The room adds to Anne's despair at finding out she's not wanted. Could some of this paragraph be cut? Absolutely – you could go from 'Anne looked around her wistfully' right to 'With a sob she hastily discarded her garments...'

The most important thing to remember is his: DO NOT cut just to make the text easier! This belies the goal of improving reader fluency and comprehension. Instead, make a vocabulary list, discuss the difficult words, discuss the story and characters, and rehearse the selection over and over again.

Step Three: Narration

When making Reader's Theatre come alive, dealing with the dialogue is always going to be easier than narration. Dialogue is inherently theatrical. The division of narration can be a bit more difficult. It needs to be active. While you don't want to have all the lines bouncing back and forth between narrators, you also don't want to have one reader speak multiple paragraphs at a time. The drama and the theatre of the reading must always be at the forefront. How do you make narration dramatic?

Read with expression: 

Narration can be read with expression and tonal variety just as much as dialogue can. Take the above room description from Anne of Green Gables as an example. The room is bleak, bare, icy and unfriendly. The reader can reflect these emotions as they describe the room.

As an exercise have students read the room description from Anne of Green Gables aloud. Vary the expression with which the text is read. What images do the listeners get by changing the expression? What happens when the description is read without expression?

Click here to read the room description from Anne of Green Gables.

Use more than one narrator:

It's not always necessary to have the narrators speak one at a time, one after the other. Accelerate the drama of the moment by having multiple speakers or having all narrators speak at once. Take The Red Badge of Courage for example. The sample chapter takes place during the chaos of battle. Have that chaos happen aurally. It makes perfect sense that the line, 'The din in front swelled to a tremendous chorus” should be spoken by every reader.

As an exercise, look below for the provided sample chapter from The Red Badge of Courage. Have students identify three lines that would work well with multiple narrators speaking in unison.

Use multiple narrators within a sentence:

If you want to really up the pace of a certain moment think about dividing up a sentence with multiple narrators. This is an especially interesting exercise with classical works where sentences can last as long as a paragraph. Look at the paragraph in The Count of Monte Cristo that begins 'Just God!' There are only four sentences in this paragraph as Dante comes to the decision to take another prisoner's place in a shroud. Dante's thoughts and actions are moving a mile a minute and it should be reflected in the narration. Here is how I have divided up the longest sentence in the paragraph:

Read the adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo.

Use the paragraph with your students and have them create their own multiple narrator version.

The trick with using multiple narrators in a sentence is that the readers have to be on the ball. They have to jump in the second the previous speaker has finished so that sentence sounds like it's one thought. It can be harder that it sounds, but a great challenge for students. It's an excellent listening exercise and, when it's perfected, sounds amazing.

Use a Soundscape:

Think about any sounds that might be used to accompany narration. This isn't about adding music cues - the sounds have to come from the group itself. For example, the sounds of war in The Red Badge of Courage. Crane frequently uses sound images to describe the battle: “With the passionate song of the bullets and the banshee shrieks of shells.”

As an exercise have students read the provided sample chapter from The Red Badge of Courage. Create a list of sound images. In groups, create a soundscape to accompany the text.

Reader's Theatre Adaptation Examples

There are two files which make up the Novel Adaptation Examples.

The first is a clean version of each chapter sample. Divide the class into groups and have each group adapt the chapter into Reader's Theatre. Where do they cut? How do they divide the narration? Are they making note of any facial or tonal expression in the dialogue?

The second file offers an example of cuts, markings, and narration variations. This is by no means the only way each sample can be performed as Reader's Theatre, but it gives a example.

EXERCISES

These exercises focus on the oral aspects of preparing students for Reader's Theatre: Volume, expression, diction, and breathing! Never forget to breathe....

Vocal Warm Ups

Incorporate a couple of vocal warm ups before students begin reading aloud. It makes a difference when the voice is warmed up and helps to create focus.

• Tongue Twisters are excellent for diction
• Exaggeratedly move the mouth and jaw
• Yawn with sound. Start on a high note and work your way down as the yawn gets bigger.
• Alphabet the vowels – 'ba, ca, da, fa, ga, ha... and so on. Repeat with other vowels.
• Practise deep breathing. When you control the breath, you control the voice.

Choral Speaking

Have the group read a poem aloud in unison. Who speaks too fast, who speaks too slow? A great exercise in active listening. The aim is to say the poem in one voice.

Pace

Take the same poem and play with pace. Divide class into smaller groups. Have the first group say the poem, very, very slowly. Then each successive group gets a little faster, and a little faster, and so on. Discuss afterwards which pace worked the best. Which pace hindered comprehension?

Emphasis

Take a sentence and read it multiple times, emphasizing a different word each time. (e.g. Who do you think you are, I don't care what you think, Billy gave me earring for Christmas.) How does the meaning of the sentence change when you change the emphasis in a sentence?

Change the Emotion

Take a sentence and have each student say it with a different emotion. (happy, bored, anger, fear, disgust, joy, sadness) For example, “My Aunt Bertha is coming to live with us.” How does the sentence change as the emotion changes? What happens when the sentence is said in a neutral tone of voice?

Record

Sometimes the best thing you can do is let students discover issues for themselves. Tape the piece and listen back. What do students hear in their own reading? What do they sound like? Are they clear? Is there expression?

LETTERS

 Click Here to receive a free download of Letters by Evelyn Merritt.

Letters is a Reader's Theatre script. The play shows characters writing to and receiving letters from soldiers of various wars: The US Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. Because the piece bounces back and forth so quickly between periods, it just makes sense to focus on the aural qualities of the script.

What's great about the script is its focus on the characters. Each character expresses very specific emotions about their place in their particular war. The play also has oral elements such as overlapping speech, unison speech, and repeated patterns. The words speak for themselves.

How do I prepare:

The first thing in preparing Letters for a Reader's Theatre presentation is to examine each character. What war do they come from? What do each of the characters sound like? What do they do (are they a solider, a mother, a nurse)? What emotion do they express about the war? Do their emotions change? There are a lot of questions to ask about the characters, which will help the Reader's give a three-dimensional performance.

Click Here for a Character Worksheet for Letters.

Make note of all sound elements. When does dialogue overlap? When do the characters speak in unison? How does sentence structure determine the pace? How does a character's use of language reflect their personality?

Decide on the staging. This piece involves realistic characters within a non-realistic structure. Will you have stylized staging to fit the structure, or naturalistic staging to fit the characters? I would suggest stylized: everyone enters formally, opening and closing their scripts at the same time. Characters face out instead of speaking directly to one another. Any movement is restricted to the face and hands.

Practise, Practise, Practise! This is a challenging piece whether there's blocking or not. The characters have depth to them and the aural qualities are at times complex. The more students practise, the more the lines will flow from one thought to the next and the more impact the piece will have as a whole.

RESOURCES

• Introduction to Reader's Theatre
• Resource Guide to Reader's Theatre by Aaron Shepard
• Introduction to Reader's Theatre by Lila Carrick
• Resource Page of Reader's Theatre Sites
• Another Resource Page of Reader's Theatre Sites
• Another Resource Page of Reader's Theatre Sites

Stay Connected

We’ve got big plans for this year, including giving away some free plays through our Twitter and Facebook pages. Now would be a really good time to friend us up!

Free Resources

Did you know we have a page full of free resources for theatre teachers? Check it out here!

Conference Alert

Here's our upcoming conference schedule. If you're attending, please drop by and say hi!

• NCTAE - North Carolina Theatre Arts Educators Fall Sharing 2010 Monroe, NC
  Sep 18, 2010 to Sep 19, 2010
• Educational Theatre Association,Annual Conference New York
  Sep 30, 2010 to Oct 4, 2010
• FATE Conference
  Oct 16, 2010 to Oct 16, 2010
• CODE Conference Niagara on the Lake Queens Landing
  Oct 29, 2010 to Oct 31, 2010
• Texas Thespians
  Nov 18, 2010 to Nov 20, 2010
• Missouri Thespians
  Jan 5, 2011 to Jan 9, 2011
• 2011 TETA Conference Houston, Texas
  Jan 27, 2011 to Jan 31, 2011
• Florida Junior Thespians
  Feb 11, 2011 to Feb 12, 2011
• Florida Thespians
  Mar 16, 2011 to Mar 20, 2011

In the Next Issue

In February we have another Analysis and Exercises Issue on Tennessee Williams as we look at A Streetcar Named Desire.

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