Reader's Theatre

Message: 28
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2012 12:32:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jill S  birchard.lib.oh.us

Here are the responses I received regarding a Reader's Theater Troupe at the library.

Jill S
Birchard Public Library

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Hi Jill --
 - No age requirement. We just specify that the children must know how to read.
 - I've had a lot of fun with groups with all ages, from kindergarten to 5th grade, all together. I accept them all as long as they can read. (I have had 4th graders attend who can't read. I let them stay and give them "special" things such as introducing, etc.)
 - Since it's never the same kids that show up, you can do it however often you like. Each session is self-contained. Some come once, some come to every session. It's just up to you.
 - No stage, we just perform at the end of the rehearsal session in front of the parents. It's great.
 - Generally in the afternoon is a good time. One hour and 15 minutes, start to finish, including rehearsal, prep and performance.
 - The program runs like this. First we sit in a circle and do a read-through without assigning any roles. Next we decide the roles. Next the kids highlight the lines on their sheets that they speak. Next we do one rehearsal. Next is the performance! All in 75 minutes.
 - The way I make it work, not knowing how many will show up, is to have a variety of scripts ready, for me to choose from, once I see who is there.
Good luck!
 -- Kathy in NJ

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See: http://mclskids.pbworks.com/w/page/23063846/Reader%27s%20Theatre
Wishing you every success.

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Jill,

I've done a reader's theatre program a few times at my library and although it's a lot of work, the kids always enjoy it. I structure mine a little differently and have them rehearse & perform that same day. We had trouble with retention and this guarantees a performance at the end of the day.

Here's my schedule:
5:30-7pm - introductions, vocal warm-ups, read-through script, cast roles, rehearse
7-7:30pm - families are invited to come back at 7pm for the performance. usually some poems for 2 voices and then a picture book adaptation for a total of 20-30 minutes.

What ages were in the program? Grades 3-5
What day and time of the week were your programs? I did mine during the summer during the week.
Hope this is helpful!

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Hi there!  I have been running a Reader's Theater program at my library for a couple years and it's one of my favorites.  I find that the kids really have fun and the parents love it too.

My program is one Thursday evening a month for one hour and it's 3rd-6th grade.  We begin with a 10 minute warm-up activity which is usually some sort of theater game or getting to know you ice-breaker type activity to loosen them up.  Then I pass out the scripts. Depending on the size of the group, we either have one story that we work on together or multiple stories that they practice in small groups.  At the end of the program we invite any parents/children in the room to watch our "performance."

What works:
-The warm-up is essential.  I use that time to explain what RT is to kids who don't know and go over the "rules" which include being respectful of each other and helping each other out when they are lost in their script or stumble over a word.  The warm-up activity is usually something silly that gets them to shed their shyness a bit.

-Shorter scripts.  I find that if the script is more than 3 or 4 pages the kids lose interest pretty quickly when they are doing their first read-through and when they have to watch another group perform for a really long time.  I've also experimented with tandem reading where kids work in pairs and even monologues where they practiced reciting them together and then performed individually.

-Scripts that have the option for "group parts."  For instance I did "Millions of Cats" and all the cats said lines together so if I had more kids than were registered I could throw them in the cat group and everyone has a part.

What doesn't work:
-When people show up that didn't sign up!  I don't like to turn kids away so I've come up with ways to combat this, such as scripts with group parts and having multiple scripts on hand just in case.

-Trying to make RT a series of rehearsals and one final performance at the end.  I tried this as part of my summer reading club one year and due to erratic attendance we were still ironing out parts and switching roles on the day of the performance.  It was a bust.  I have since kept with my self-contained meetings where the practice and performance are in one evening.

I could go on for days but I've already written enough so if you have any questions feel free to email me directly.  I'm always tweaking this program and trying things out so I'd love to hear what ends up working for you.

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Hello, Jill

I've done readers' theatre three times in my library, always with 4th and 5th graders.
I've done it two ways:
 3-week, 1 hour per week with about 25 kids.  1st week, kids form their own groups of 2 or
as many as 5 and select a script to perform.  Each smaller group performs their own script
and the group as a whole performs one all together.    2nd week, rehearse again. 3rd week,
perform smaller group scripts and entire ensemle script for parents/friends audience, serve refreshments afterwards.

2nd way: one 3-hour session, 25 kids, same process except instead of 1st week, 2nd week, etc.
we do in 1st hour, 2nd hour. We take a half-hour break for snacks 2 hours in. Performance for
audience to finish out the 3 hours. Both ways I make playbills for distribution to the audience
listing cast and script titles.

I have not reached out to a community theatre. It's my take that RT (readers theatre) doesn't
need props, sets, or memorization of lines.   My sources for scripts: Margie Palatini's website,
Aaron Shepherd's website, my department's own collection (or I interloan from other libraries).
I also write a lot of my own from fiction and picture books (i.e. Frog and Toad, Once upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude,
The Wolf Who Cried Boy, and the poems of Jack Prelutzky and Shel Silverstein, The Three Silly Billies,
Squids will be Squids, and Mary Ann Hoberman's "You Read to Me I'll Read to You" series) .