Reader's Theatre is not a fully-staged production with sets, costumes and dramatic action performed by actors who memorise lines from a script. Instead, a readers' theatre performance is a dramatic reading, just as its name suggests. Readers are usually seated, reading from a script that is held in their hands or placed on a musc stand in front of them. There may be minimal use of costumes or props, such as hats, a sceptre or crown, or a simple backdrop to provide a suggestion of the setting and characters that the readers hope to bring to life for the audience during their dramatic reading.
Readers' Theatre offers all the enrichment of traditional theatre productions, but without the logistical challenges that come with designing and building sets and creating costumes. Students are spared the stress of having to memorise lines, and can instead focus on developing a strong dramatic reading of the script.
Contents of Readers' Theatre Upper Primary Book 1:
- Introduction
- Assessment
Pre-performance Checklist
Performance Review Template
Assessing Oral Presentations
- Scripts and Activities
Demeter and Persephone (Language Arts, Social Studies)
SOS Titanic (Language Arts, Social Studies)
Getting the Scoop on UFOs (Language Arts, Science)
Eureka: What the Flag Means (Language Arts, Social Studies)
All the Rice in India (Language Arts, Mathematics)
Enter Bruce Lee (Biography, Language Arts, Social Studies)
Haste Makes Waste (Character Education, Language Arts)
The Australian Gold Rush (Language Arts, Social Studies)
Women in Science (Language Arts, Science)
Writing on the Wall (Character Education, Language Arts)
Beauty and the Beast (Language Arts)
The Under-Grounders (Language Arts, Science)
- Answer Key |
