Creating a Reader’s Theatre
Young Adult Literature and the History of Slavery Unit
By Rick Vanderwall

Overview

The purpose of this lesson is to take the history that both the younger students and older students have learned and have them create together a reader’s theatre production. They will use the slave narratives offered on the site, the narratives offered on the Library of Congress site, and parts of the picture books that were read to younger learners. This activity culminates the collaboration between the two groups of students. The public performance of the reader’s theatre will communicate to parents and the school community the new awareness students gained by participating in the unit.

Student Objectives

Students, in collaboration, will:

• Apply a wide range of strategies to help them comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They will draw on their previous experience, interactions with other readers and writers, knowledge of word meaning and other texts, word identification strategies, and understanding of textual features. (NCTE)



• Rehearse and perform the script.

Skills Attained

Students will be able to:

• Adapt narrative texts into a reader’s theatre script.
• Develop theatre production skills of acting, directing, script writing, designing sets, costuming or stage management.
• Understand the format of Reader's Theatre.
• Create a work of art as a collaborative, multiage group.

Materials Needed

• Access to the online slave narratives and picture books
• Production Process
• Production Team Handout
• A computer for word processing (script)
• Access to a performance space

The Lesson

Anticipatory Set

• Discuss with older students what they know about reader’s theatre (RT).

Procedures

1. Direct older students to Aaron Shepard’s excellent "What is RT" web page at:
   http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/whatis.html.



2. Have them read through the definition of reader’s theatre.



3. Have a small group of students prepare and present a definition of RT for the younger students.



4. Divide the older students into production teams. The individual jobs in the team are listed on the Production Team Handout (below). Assign a group of younger students to each of the teams.



5. Instruct each team to use the process detailed on the Production Process Instructions Handout (below) to create a script based on subject areas from the history of slavery. Refer students to Aaron Shepard’s RT Tips page at: http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/Tips.html, which will give them an understanding of how to create a reader’s theatre script.
   
   Once the older students have a unified format for the script, have each team select a topic to cover in the script. A suggested structure for the different parts of the script is based on the following chapter titles of Julius Lester’s book To Be a Slave:
   
   
   • To Be a Slave
   • The Auction Block
   • The Plantation
   • Resistance to Slavery
   • Emancipation
   • After Emancipation
   
   Students could also create their own structure.



6. Assign each team working with groups of younger students to create a ten-minute script using the picture books read to the younger students, the web site narratives, and the Library of Congress collection of slave narratives as a source.



7. Have students give a public performance of the reader’s theatre.

Assessment

Completion of Activity is worth 100 points, which you determine by daily participation, productivity, and quality of the product created as rated by self- and teacher-evaluation. See the Reader’s Theatre Activity Evaluation Rubric (below).

Rick Vanderwall teaches Sixth Grade Language Arts and Social Studies at Price Laboratory School at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Return to the main unit page.

Each group--the size can be flexible--contains the following roles: director (one), stage manager (one), playwright(s) (one or two), production designers (one or two), and actors (doubled up with other roles). Students may fulfill multiple roles in the production process. Role descriptions are as follows:

Playwright(s): The playwright(s) creates the script with guidance from the whole group and within the guidelines your teacher establishes. He or she (they) especially works with the director and stage manager.

Director: Each group has its own director. The director is responsible for conceptualizing the play with the other directors and works with the playwright(s) to create the script. Once the script is complete, the director oversees the staging of the play and the coordination of all the production’s artistic aspects.

Stage Manager: The stage manager works with the director to help organize the production. He or she records artistic decisions about acting and movement in the master copy of the script known as a prompt book. The stage manager also creates the rehearsal schedule with the teacher.

Production Designer(s): The production designer(s) creates simple settings, costumes, and props for the production. He or she (they) works with the director to coordinate these technical aspects of the production according to the production concept that the whole group has developed.

Actors: Actors in the production should include all members of both groups. This means everyone has at least two roles in the group. People with larger responsibilities should take smaller parts. Casting should be a group activity with the director having the final say if group members disagree.

Pre-production

Before the class separates into script groups to begin the adaptation, decide on some consistent ways to structure your script so that they blend well. Aaron Shepard’s Web reader’s theater web page at: http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/Tips.html will help you understand how to create a reader’s theatre script.

A key decision is how to use a narrator to connect the parts of the script. Once your group has decided format of the production, you then analyze its assigned topic to write the reader’s theatre script. Look through the picture books you read to the younger students and the Library of Congress collection of slave narratives for any text that is related to your topic. As you find a text you want to use, copy it down.

When you have more than enough material to cover your subject in the ten minutes allotted to your group, select the material you want to use and arrange it in a fashion that is consistent with the format the whole group created. Note that the value of this project is not in the quality of the product; rather, it is in the process of the creation of the play. So, don't let your group get so hung up on "artistic decision making" that you lose sight of the project's overall goal.

Production Process

The stage manager works with the teachers to create a writing/rehearsal schedule. The playwrights work with the director to create a script. The designers create drawings of simple sets and costumes as needed. As these jobs are completed, your group can begin rehearsals and assemble the sets and costumes.

Performance

The directors should work with the teachers to coordinate the performance, for instance, by arranging a date, time, and place. Keep it as simple as possible: remember that the production process is far more important than the final product. An in-class performance can be just as valuable as a full-blown public performance. Performing for other classes works well, too.

Name: __________________________________________

Date: _____________________

Section: _____________________

Script worked on: __________________________________________

Check the jobs you did:

Director______

Actor______

Stage Manager______

Set or Costume Designer______

1. Scene Production (30 pts): Rate the production by circling the number that best describes the work, with 1 being the lowest quality and 10 being the highest.
   
   
   1. Self-evaluation
      
      
      1. Daily Participation:  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10
      
      
      
      2. Productivity:  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10
      
      
      
      3. Quality of product:  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10
      
      
   2. Teacher Evaluation
      
      
      1. Daily Participation:  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10
      
      
      
      2. Productivity:  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10
      
      
      
      3. Quality of Product:  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10

      Total Points out of 30 ______

   
   
2. Description of My Activities (40 Pts):

   (Write in complete sentences.)

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

   Total Points out of 100 ______