PART FOUR: Staging For The Different Styles of Readers Theatre
The four major styles of Readers Theatre include the following:
1. Simple Readers Theatre…This is the least external style that formalizes the presentation of the script with an emphasis on interpretation of the text through inner responses of thought, emotion and experience with a minimum of physical activity.
2. Staged Readers Theatre…This is an intermediate style that has a formal setup, but externalizes the actions of the script with characters on revolving stools and narrators situated at music stands. This is the preferred style that Open Book Players uses in their readers theatre productions.
3. Chamber Theatre…The most active style that resembles conventional theatre by utilizing full-stage choreography, more elaborate elements of stage craft, and memorized lines. Unlike representational theatre, it retains the narrative text, and is much more suggestive than literal in performance and production.
4. Story Theatre…This is a type of theatre, also known as readers theatre, where actors present dramatic readings of narrative material without elaborate costumes, props, scenery, or lighting. The focus is on vocal expression and script to convey the story to the audience. The actors do their own narration along with the “character” lines.
A video demonstrating these four styles will be added within a couple of days…look for it!
Here is the video!!!
Our last post related to Readers Theatre instruction will be about “Offstage Focus” along with how Readers Theatre can be used beyond “Entertainment”.
Open Book Players 