AUDITION NOTICE: Open Book Players will hold auditions for the children’s show, “Fairy Tales With A Twist” on Sunday, August 24th at 6:00 p.m., Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner. Performances will be on September 27th at 7:00 p.m. and September 28th at 2:00 p.m. A rehearsal schedule will be available at the time of auditions. Actors between the ages of 7 and 14 are invited but they must be fluent readers and there are parts for 10-12 actors. If you have any questions, feel free to email me…help us to spread the word! Lucy Rioux, Artistic Director (lucyrioux@gmail.com)
PLEASE NOTE: Auditions for “Fairy Tales With A Twist” will actually be held on AUGUST 24TH at 6:00 p.m. and NOT August 31st! More information will be posted soon!! Johnson Hall Opera House, Gardiner, ME.
PART FIVE: Using Readers Theatre for “Teaching” and for “Social Services”…
Teaching: RT has a set of techniques and approaches that can be used to teach on all educational levels any subject matter that is converted into a proper script. Reading, grammar, literature, history, foreign language, science, mathematics, even workshop and other seemingly unlikely subjects, have been taught successfully through RT. Here is a list of examples and grade level suggestions: Multiplication Script (K-2) The Great Punctuation Olympics Practice (2-5) Circles on the Earth (6-8) Ellis Island (6-8) Paul Revere’s Ride (6-8) Martha Graham–A Biography (9-12) Vincent Van Gogh (9-12) There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury (9-12)
Social Services: RT is being used for recreation at home, and as an entertainment for organizations, cruises, retreats, and other public entities; for the promotion of various social, political, religious and other causes; and as a therapeutically helpful activity for retirement homes, correctional facilities, high-stress professions, and many other areas where presentational theatre can make its unique contribution to special group needs. Here is a list of examples: Where Is My Nana? (dealing with dementia/Alzheimer’s) Hungry (dealing with eating disorders) Bloodborne Pathogens (educational training presentation) Sexual Harassment Script
Just about any piece of writing/literature can be scripted using Readers Theatre techniques, but remember if you plan any “public” performance of any work that is not original or in the public domain, you will need to get permission from the author and/or publisher. Use in the classroom for educational purposes is usually “safe” but it is always best to check.
This will conclude our “Introduction to Readers Theatre Styles and Technique”, but if you have any questions or would like to receive a copy of the above mentioned RT scripts, private message me and we can go from there.
COMING SOON…Open Book Players 30th Season List of Productions! Hopefully by July 1st!!!
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”.
Part Three…AN EXAMPLE OF SCRIPTMAKING The technique used by Open Book Players when scripting a literary piece is one where the “characters” share the narration, therefore using “Narrators” assigned to each major character in the story. There are more complicated scripting techniques, but this style works well with most literary pieces. I have chosen an Aesop Fable to demonstrate how this can work. First, the fable:
The Town Mouse & the Country Mouse…an Aesop Fable
A Town Mouse once visited a relative who lived in the country. For lunch the Country Mouse served wheat stalks, roots, and acorns, with a dash of cold water for drink. The Town Mouse ate very sparingly, nibbling a little of this and a little of that, and by her manner making it very plain that she ate the simple food only to be polite.
After the meal the friends had a long talk, or rather the Town Mouse talked about her life in the city while the Country Mouse listened. They then went to bed in a cozy nest in the hedgerow and slept in quiet and comfort until morning. In her sleep the Country Mouse dreamed she was a Town Mouse with all the luxuries and delights of city life that her friend had described for her. So the next day when the Town Mouse asked the Country Mouse to go home with her to the city, she gladly said yes.
When they reached the mansion in which the Town Mouse lived, they found on the table in the dining room the leavings of a very fine banquet. There were sweetmeats and jellies, pastries, delicious cheeses, indeed, the most tempting foods that a Mouse can imagine. But just as the Country Mouse was about to nibble a dainty bit of pastry, she heard a Cat mew loudly and scratch at the door. In great fear the Mice scurried to a hiding place, where they lay quite still for a long time, hardly daring to breathe. When at last they ventured back to the feast, the door opened suddenly and in came the servants to clear the table, followed by the House Dog.
The Country Mouse stopped in the Town Mouse’s den only long enough to pick up her carpet bag and umbrella.
“You may have luxuries and dainties that I have not,” she said as she hurried away, “but I prefer my plain food and simple life in the country with the peace and security that go with it.”
Poverty with security is better than plenty in the midst of fear and uncertainty.
AND NOW THE SCRIPTED VERSION…Please note that not a word of the text has been changed and that the point of view has been totally preserved.
THE TOWN MOUSE AND THE COUNTRY MOUSE
By Aesop
Scripted for Readers Theatre by Lucy Rioux
Reader 1…Narrator for Town Mouse (N1)
Reader 2…Town Mouse (TM)
Reader 3…Country Mouse (CM)
Reader 4…Narrator for Country Mouse (N2)
TM & CM: The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
N1 & N2: an Aesop Fable
N1: A Town Mouse once visited a relative
TM: who lived in the country.
N2: For lunch the Country Mouse served
CM: wheat stalks, roots, and acorns, with a dash of cold water for drink.
N1: The Town Mouse ate very sparingly,
TM: nibbling a little of this and a little of that,
N1: and by her manner making it very plain that she ate the simple food
TM: only to be polite.
N1 & N2: After the meal the friends had a long talk,
N1: or rather the Town Mouse talked about her life
TM: in the city
N2: while the Country Mouse
CM; listened.
Page 2
N1 & N2: They then went to bed
TM: in a cozy nest in the hedgerow
CM: and slept in quiet and comfort until morning.
N2: In her sleep the Country Mouse dreamed she was
CM: a Town Mouse with all the luxuries and delights of city life
N2: that her friend had described for her.
CM: So the next day
N1: when the Town Mouse asked the Country Mouse to go home with her
TM: to the city,
N2: she gladly said
CM: yes.
N1 & N2: When they reached the mansion in which the Town Mouse lived,
N1: they found on the table in the dining room
N2: the leavings of a very fine banquet.
CM: There were sweetmeats and jellies,
TM: pastries, delicious cheeses,
ALL: indeed,
CM: the most tempting foods that a Mouse can imagine.
N2: But just as the Country Mouse was about to nibble
Page 3
CM: a dainty bit of pastry,
N2: she heard a Cat mew loudly
CM: and scratch at the door.
CM & TM: In great fear
N1 & N2: the Mice scurried
CM & TM: to a hiding place,
N1 & N2: where they lay quite still for a long time
CM & TM: hardly daring to breathe.
N1 & N2: When at last they ventured back to the feast,
CM & TM: the door opened suddenly
TM: and in came the servants to clear the table,
ALL: followed by the House Dog.
N2: The Country Mouse stopped in the Town Mouse’s den only long enough
TM: to pick up her carpet bag and umbrella.
CM: “You may have luxuries and dainties that I have not,”
N2: she said as she hurried away,
CM: “but I prefer my plain food and simple life in the country with the peace and security that go with it.”
ALL: Poverty with security is better than plenty in the midst of fear and uncertainty.
THE NEXT POST WILL FOCUS ON STAGING OF DIFFERENT STYLES OF READERS THEATRE…hopefully posted by May 19th.
PART TWO A…Principles of Scriptmaking Here are some fundamentals to be considered: 1. Literary Merit (A script should be based on material of literary value.) 2. Text Responsibility (The scriptmaker must respect the text and preserve the author’s intentions as fully as possible.)
PART TWO B…Procedures For Scriptmaking Choose a selection for which you have a strong affinity, and that meets the needs of your performance event. Here is a checklist you can follow: 1. Is the selection appropriate for cast and audience. Consider: a. Subject appeal b. Level of sophistication c. Difficulty. Is it within the range of an available cast in vocabulary, composition, style, etc.? d. Literary value e. Content value: relevancy to total group.
2. Is the selection suitable for Readers Theatre arrangement? Consider: a. Since Readers Theatre is a form of theatre, is there drama (conflict of characters, of ideas) inherent in the piece? Is there a strong basic situation with progressive action? Are the characters vivid? b. Point of View: Third Person Omniscient narration offers the greatest flexibility for division of lines in order to achieve script variety and multiple narrators who reflect various characters’ points of view. First Person point of view presents special difficulties in achieving script proportions since one character’s narration and dialogue usually comprise the bulk of the selection. Any material can potentially be made into a satisfactory script by the application of techniques that will be provided in our next post, but it is recommended, however, that the novice start with a Third Person Omniscient selection.
Be sure to analyze the material. As arranger, you are responsible for insuring that the script faithfully preserves the author’s intentions. Study the selection until you understand it as thoroughly as possible. Below is a checklist for elements which need to be investigated: 1. Point of View…Who is the storyteller? Is the narration given in first or third person? 2. Journalistic Questions…Discover the Who, Where, When, What, Why and How of the story to make the external plot concrete in your thinking. 3. Characters…Study the active characters through their dialogue, actions, and what the author tells and implies about them. 4. Themes…What is the driving force of the story? 5. Climaxes…Good writing is progressive with a pattern of climaxes (emotional high points) ending with a major one which usually marks the turning point of the action leading to final resolution. 6. Style…Is it meant to be realistic or artificial? Is it rapid and straightforward or elaborate and circuitous? 7. Emotive Response…Define the desired reader-audience response the authors seeks to evoke: laughter, serious contemplation, terror, intellectual stimulation, or some other emotion. (Reference: Institute Book of Readers Theatre)
In PART THREE, examples of scriptmaking will be provided…hopefully posted by May 12th!!
Part One: READERS THEATRE DEFINED According to the “Institute Book of Readers Theatre” by Dr. William Adams, Readers Theatre is based on four fundamental beliefs: 1. Readers Theatre is a combination of oral interpretation and conventional theatre. 2. Readers Theatre respects the literary text, and seeks to discover and transmit the author’s intentions within the context of the Times in which it was created. 3. Readers Theatre is presentational in nature. (Most performances on stage, television or in films are “representational”. That condition indicates that the audience is expected to make a “willing suspension of disbelief,” and agrees to pretend that the enacted events are actually happening to the “real people” being watched.) Readers Theatre has a different basic approach. Because the literature usually performed retains its narrative line, the audience is aware that the events are “Presentational”, recalled from the past, or described in the present. The illusion of reality is substituted by the richness of the text that lets us enter into characters’ inner as we well as outer lives, having direct access to their feelings, thoughts, motivations and philosophies as presented through the author’s controlling will. 4. Readers Theatre is a flexible medium that can meet the needs of many different applications: *It serves as an education tool that can teach effectively any subject on any educational level. *It is a form of theatre that can be performed on all professional and non-commercial stages. *It is a strategy to enhance programs of all community social services. *It is a recreational device for home entertainment and observances.
In PART TWO (hopefully posted by May 5th), we will explain the various styles of “Scripting”…
Until our next season is posted, Open Book Players will post what Readers Theatre is all about and its use in three major areas: in Schools, in Theatre, and in the Community. Look for our “Introduction” to be posted soon!
Open Book Players 