Please tell me about Readers Theater.

April 26, 2017 6:28 AM

What states have Readers Theater as a speech/debate event? Did you do this as a student?

I am a high school speech and debate coach in STL, MO. I had not heard of Readers Theater before this year, so I'm trying to get an understanding of it. For reference, my background is in Lincoln Douglas debate, extemporaneous speaking, and impromptu - I don't know the standard dramas.

If you competed in or know about readers theater, where did this happen? What ages? What kinds of pieces? How were those pieces found/chosen/compiled? Can you point me to "good" examples of both pieces and performances?

posted by Ms Vegetable to Grab Bag (1 answer total)

I loved doing Readers Theater as a teen! It was my gateway into being comfortable with public speaking. All of this happened ~15 yeas ago, so it's a bit hazy.

I competed/performed as a sophomore in high school. I would have done it as a junior and senior, but there wasn't interest (? all I know is that I did a one-act play instead...) Reader's Theater was a part of the Iowa High School Speech Competition, which also included extemporaneous speaking, improv, and skits of various kinds. From what I recall, debate was a separate activity, with a separate competition.

I liked Reader's Theater because I didn't have to memorize my script, and could read from the text. (Although by the end I had memorized it)

We performed a piece written by our drama/speech teacher. We performed a reading about cultural diversity, with teens from a variety of cultural backgrounds in the group.

I remember one of the pieces that ended up beating us when we went to pre-state competition was a reading of Dr. Seuss' The Foot Book.
posted by Guess What at 7:42 AM on April 26, 2017