READER'S THEATRE ASSIGNMENT

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Magdalene Young
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1 READER'S THEATRE ASSIGNMENT PROCEDURE Each group will choose a theme from A Raisin in the Sun that will be the central focus of their original Readers Theatre script. This script will be written, rehearsed, and performed for the rest of the class. In addition to the script of A Raisin in the Sun, students will need to incorporate at least 5 other texts. SELECTION Choose sections of the play that have only two or three characters. Incorporate music, images, and excerpts from other texts (poems, articles) to communicate issues related to your assigned theme s role in the play. SCRIPTING Your performance should be 6-10 minutes long. Create enough parts for every group member to be involved and find parts of the play that support this number of voices. Look at the amount of narration; keeping in mind how many readers you have, decide whether or not you need multiple narrators. If you do, look for different voices, moods or qualities that can be divided between the narrators. Eliminate unimportant characters and situations too difficult to portray on stage. Reduce the tags ("he said", "she said") so that dialogue flows smoothly. Type the script into a workable fashion with each character clearly identified, single spaced for each character, double spaced between characters. Provide a wide left margin so that the pages can be hole-punched and placed into a three-ring binder. STAGING Plan your use of stage carefully so that character relationships, movements, and time/place transitions are communicated clearly. Remember, movement must be purposeful. Creative use of focus helps to define a space or environment, walking in place can imply movement, and going BTA (back to audience) can effectively remove you from a scene. Creating static and moving tableaux can help show character relationships and plot situations. Experiment with using different levels, chairs and tableaux with an eye toward keeping the action accessible to the audience. REHEARSAL Ample class time is provided for your group to rehearse without meeting outside class, if you attend each session and meet scripting deadlines. Your absence will negatively affect your group and will weigh heavily on your grade as well as your conscience. I will be available during these rehearsals to watch and offer suggestions. Cooperation and sensitivity to others are essential for productive rehearsals. Be sure to rehearse using script binders. PERFORMANCE Be prepared to read on the day assigned; all groups will show their work on that day. Scripts need to be in an easily handled holder, 3-ring notebooks work well. A clean copy of the final script draft must be handed in prior to performing. One evaluation sheet naming the readers and selection must be provided prior to performance. The group will be assigned one grade which each member will receive. Have one evaluation form ready for the group. I will only split the grade if the dynamics of the group are a problem; let me know before the end, please.

2 Here are a few tips for writing your Readers Theater: * Chose scenes. Readers Theater is short and sweet so you ve got to pack a dramatic punch from the first line. The best way to do that is with an iconic scene from your book. * Consider cast size. Make sure each person gets a part. *Color code the parts. This will help you during your performance. * Keep the performance in the 5-10 minute window. We want interesting and powerful performances. * Props/No Props? The simpler the better, although a couple of fun things can bring your scene to life in a hurry. REQUIREMENTS: 1. Must have excerpts from the play. 2. Must be on-topic. 3. Must be 6-10 minutes in length. 4. Must use 5 other texts in the performance. 5. Quality points will be awarded for creativity in props and appropriateness of musical selections. 6. The activity should be fun to do, but not funny. This is not the time for a spoof 7. Make sure your script and performance will not insult or offend anyone. If you aren t sure, check with me. You will receive a group grade and an individual grade. Group grade will include: (100) Script (50) Group Cooperation Individual Grade (50) Performance Did you do a good job when your group performed? Can we hear you? Are you prepared? (10 per day) Participation Were you on-task and helpful to your group during the process of creating the script And performing it? TOTAL: 250 points

3 Example of a script ASAGAI ASAGAI Do you remember the first time you met me at school? (laughs) You came up to me and said and I thought you were the most serious little thing I had ever seen you said (imitating her) Mr Asagai I want very much to talk with you. About Africa. You see, Mr. Asagai, I am looking for my identity. Yes Well it is true that this is not so much a profile of a Hollywood queen as perhaps a queen of the Nile But what does it matter? Assimilationism is so popular in your country I am not an assimilationist! Track 1: Nigerian music Girl, you done lost your natural mind!? Look at your head What have you done to your head I mean your hair! Nothing except cut it off. Now that s the truth it s what ain t been done to it! You expect this boy to go out with you with your head all nappy like that? (looking at ) That s up to George. If he s ashamed of his heritage Oh, don t be so proud of yourself, Bennie just because you look eccentric. How can something that s natural be eccentric? That s what being eccentric means being natural. Get dressed. I don t like that, George. Why must you and your brother make an argument out of everything people say? Because I hate assimilationist Negroes! Will somebody please tell me what assimila-whoever means! Oh, it s just a college girl s way of calling people Uncle Toms but that isn t what it means at all.

4 Well what does it mean? (cutting off George and staring at him as she replies to ruth) It means someone who is willing to give up his own culture and submerge himself completely in the dominant, in this case oppressive culture! Track #1 The Revolution will Not Be Televised Gil-Scott Heron (30 seconds) NARRATOR Dear Editor, Two fairly recent comments about dreadlocks in your magazine have stayed on my mind and having my own experience of wearing dreadlocks, I feel compelled to offer these further comments: Though some people may start their dreadlocks by not washing their hair for three months, this is by no means the only way. I find it hard to imagine anyone going for such a long time with unwashed hair. I regret that the writer of your article was unaware that one of the main reasons people dread is because they can wash their hair frequently, since worrying about losing one s hairstyle or having one s hair go back (if one uses hot combs or perms) becomes a thing of the past. Permitting one s hair to grow as long and as wildly as it likes in its natural state is an unexcelled spiritual and political expression and a sweetly self loving and rebelliously gentle pleasure Track #2 Jammin by BOB MARLEY (30 seconds) Ha ha. Let s go, George. (looking at her) You know something? I like it. It s sharp. How I Got That Name by Marilyn Chin Track #3 Freddie Freeloader by MILES DAVIS (30 seconds) an essay on assimilation I am Marilyn Mei Ling Chin Oh, how I love the resoluteness of that first person singular followed by that stalwart indicative of "be," without the uncertain i-n-g of "becoming." Of course, the name had been changed somewhere between Angel Island and the sea, when my father the paperson in the late 1950s obsessed with a bombshell blond transliterated "Mei Ling" to "Marilyn." And nobody dared question his initial impulse for we all know

5 lust drove men to greatness, not goodness, not decency. And there I was, a wayward pink baby, named after some tragic white woman swollen with gin and Nembutal. My mother couldn't pronounce the "r." She dubbed me "Numba one female offshoot" for brevity: henceforth, she will live and die in sublime ignorance, flanked by loving children and the "kitchen deity." While my father dithers, a tomcat in Hong Kong trash a gambler, a petty thug, who bought a chain of chopsuey joints in Piss River, Oregon, with bootlegged Gucci cash. Nobody dared question his integrity given his nice, devout daughters and his bright, industrious sons as if filial piety were the standard by which all earthly men are measured Track #4 Diamonds are a Girl s Best Friend

6 Readers Theatre Evaluation Piece Performed: Author: #1 #3 #2 #4 INTRODUCTION Tone Interest Effectiveness SELECTION Appropriateness Vocal Balance Audience Engagement Effectiveness STAGING Accessibility Groupings Movement Relationships Levels Effectiveness reader 1 committment reader 2 committment SCRIPT USE Cue Pick-up Flow Pacing Handling NARRATION Involvement Focus Timing Mood VOCAL/PHYSICAL Characterizations Reactions Projection / Volume Focus Body Language Gesture reader 3 committment reader 4 committment PERFORMANCE Initiation Transitions Utterances Dynamics Ending KEY! Great! + Good. + Could Improve - Detrimental TIME: GRADE:

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