Reader's Theatre
Readers Theatre or Reader's Theater is a style of theatre in which the actors do or do not memorize their lines. In Readers Theatre, actors use vocal expression to help the audience understand the story rather than visual storytelling such as sets, costumes, and intricate blocking.
Readers Theatre is also known as Chamber Theatre or Interpretive Theatre. Readers Theatre has no apostrophe in the name because it is not a theatre owned by readers, rather it is an interpretive art form by readers.
Readers Theatre became popular during and following the second World War when resources to produce plays were scarce. A common Readers Theatre will be presented using only the scripts and stools or chairs. Limited costuming is sometimes used. While the readers may interpret the scenes or poems cold, in most cases the scripts are memorized and rehearsals are conducted with even more intensity than those conducted for a regular play.
Read more about Reader's Theatre: Theatre in Education
Famous quotes containing the words reader and/or theatre:
“The reader uses his eyes as well as or instead of his ears and is in every way encouraged to take a more abstract view of the language he sees. The written or printed sentence lends itself to structural analysis as the spoken does not because the reader’s eye can play back and forth over the words, giving him time to divide the sentence into visually appreciated parts and to reflect on the grammatical function.”
—J. David Bolter (b. 1951)
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—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)