Reader's Theater is a style of theater in which the actors do not memorize their lines.

Actors use only vocal expression to help the audience understand the story rather than
visual storytelling such as sets, costumes, intricate blocking, and movement. This style
of performance of literature was initially lauded because it emphasized hearing a written
text as a new way to understand literature.
Readers Theatre is also known as Chamber Theatre or Interpretive Theatre. Readers
Theatre became popular during and following the Second World War when resources to
produce plays were scarce. There are four different types of Readers Theatre, each an
evolution of the former and each with different attributes: Readers Theatre, Free
Readers Theatre, Chamber Theatre, and Contemporary Readers Theatre. Each of
these styles and manifestations of Readers Theatre are still performed today.
The original Readers Theatre was presented using only scripts and stools or chairs. The
material performed was plays, poems, narrative fiction, and non-dramatic literature. The
performers' focus was offstage and limited costuming was sometimes used (often the
readers wore all black to strip away character and allow for more focus on vocal
interpretation of the piece). While the readers may have interpreted the scenes or
poems cold, in most cases the scripts were memorized and rehearsals were conducted
with even more intensity than those conducted for a regular play. There was little to no
interaction between performers or movement. This style of performance also helped
performers deal with performance anxiety. [1]
Free Readers Theater was a little freer than traditional Readers Theater. The materials
performed were all the same except plays were no longer performed. The performers
were now able to look at and interact with each a little more and the presence of scripts
was optional. Blocking began to appear which suggested psychological relationships
between characters and pictorial compositions (for example, if two characters hated
each other, they might be at opposite ends of the stage, and as the tension rises, they
might move toward each other). The performers still wore black, but some wore
additional costume pieces to help suggest character (such as a hat or shawl). [2]
Chamber Theater focused on narrative fiction only (no other type of material was
performed). Scripts were almost always memorized (a narrator might carry a script to
make their authoritative voice). The movement became more elaborate and could be
associated with more traditional theater practices; it was used in such a way to reveal
the character's role and relationships in the story. Costuming evolved into suggested or
full costumes.[3]
Contemporary Readers Theatre is commonly practiced today. It is less bound by
convention and uses techniques from all of the above traditions of Readers Theatre. It is
influenced by performance art techniques which is to say there is an increasing
emphasis on creating a critical performance that interrogates the text instead of being
faithful to it and doing a good representation to share the meaning with the audience.
Contemporary Readers Theatre is influenced by Augusto Boal who emphasized
creating interactive improvisational performances where the emphasis is on the
performers and audiences' reaction to the central theme of the performance. [4]

Contents
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 1Theatre in Education
 2Dr. Leslie Irene Coger
 3References
 4External links

Theatre in Education[edit]
According to some drama teachers, [who?] plays have built-in strategies to help students
improve their reading skills. The acting out of dialogue causes readers to work more
closely with the text to project and interpret meaning into the reading experience.
Consequently, students gain improvement in vocabulary, comprehension and retention.
Reading in a small group provides reading role models which is also proven to improve
reading skills in students. Research has shown that Readers Theatre can improve
reading fluency, word choice and comprehension. [5][6][7]
One of the foremost authors on Readers Theatre was Dr. Leslie Irene Coger. Dr. Coger
wrote the book Readers Theatre Handbook: A Dramatic Approach to Literature. [8]

Dr. Leslie Irene Coger[edit]

Dr. Coger, mentioned above as one of the foremost authors on Readers Theatre, began
studying expression at the age of nine with a local instructor, Gladys Anderson. In the
1930s, she attended the Curry School of Expression in Boston. She received her Ph.D.
in 1952 and spent much of her career as a professor at Southwest Missouri State
University. Her retirement was followed by Missouri governor Kit Bond naming July 11,
1981 "Leslie Irene Coger Day," and in 1982, Southwest Missouri State University named
its new theatre after her. In 1989, she was inducted into the College of Fellows of the
American Theatre. In 1994, she received the Distinguished Service Award from the
Performance Studies division of the National Communication Association (NCA).
Dr. Coger tracks the rise of Reader's Theatre as part of the larger shifts in her field,
beginning with "expression" in the 1930s, to "oral interpretation" in the late 1940s, to
simply "interpretation" in the late 1950s and 1960s. In the wake of New Criticism, the
"interpretation" era focused on works of fiction and analysis of literature, and the study
of persona, narrators, and the implied author. This turn gave the discipline room for
group performances alongside solo performance of interpretations, including styles such
as Chamber Theatre, Theatre of the Mind, and, as Dr. Coger writes in her handbook,
Readers Theatre.
Finally, Dr. Coger tracks the shift in the 1990s from "interpretation" to "performance
studies" the field as we know it today. [9]
Reader’s theater is minimal theater in support of literature and reading. There are many
styles of reader’s theater, but nearly all share these features:
 Narration serves as the framework of dramatic presentation.
 No full stage sets. If used at all, sets are simple and suggestive.
  No full costumes. If used at all, costumes are partial and suggestive, or neutral
and uniform.
 No full memorization. Scripts are used openly in performance.

Reader’s theater was developed as an efficient and effective way to present

literature in dramatic form. Today as well, most scripts are literary adaptations, though
others are original dramatic works.
Popular first in colleges and universities, reader’s theater has now moved to
earlier education, where it is seen as a key tool for creating interest and skill in reading.
Young people love to do it, and they give it their all—more so because it’s a team effort,
and they don’t want to let down their friends! Repeated readings bring fluency, and if a
script is based on an available book, kids want to read that too. What’s more, reader’s
theater is a relatively simple activity for the teacher, with no required setup other than
making copies of scripts.
Reader’s theater has been found effective not only for language arts but for social
studies as well. Performing stories based on another culture is one of the best ways for
students to become interested in and familiar with that culture.
As to how to spell it, there’s no one right way, so take your pick! All the following
have been used:
 reader’s theater
 readers’ theater

 readers theater
 reader’s theatre
 readers’ theatre
 readers theatre

That’s why it’s sometimes easier to call it RT!

http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/whatis.html