Thus, the student should appear animated in face, voice and body. Benefits of Readers' Theatre Readers' Theatre has been found to benefit both readers and listeners in many ways. Readers' Theatre encourages various levels of critical thinking skills as readers repeatedly analyze text, respond to important story elements, and creatively interpret diverse scripts as poetry, short stories, radio scripts, essays and more. Readers learn ways to stimulate the audience intellectually and emotionally and are given a real purpose for their performance. Reading comprehension increases as readers select parts of dialogue and details that are important enough to carry the storyline.
Readers gain fluency and word recognition skills through re-reading and oral presentation.
Students in the audience as well as on stage build listening skills and the motivation to get involved with literature on a different, critical level. In-depth study of story events and character feelings build background knowledge and provides enrichment for students in need of challenging opportunities. Participation fosters cooperative teamwork and pride in accomplishing a major task as a group. After participating in or watching a Readers' Theatre production, many children wish to write original plays of adaptations of literature. One last element of opportunity involving Readers' Theatre is that the process lends itself well to being adapted to meet the needs of various learners.