Adapted from the booklet from Shepard Publications, 1997. An earlier version of this section appeared in Reading Teacher, Oct. 1994. May be freely copied and shared for any educational, noncommercial purpose. There are many styles of reader's theater. Scripts are often set on music stands.
Readers look straight out toward the audience or at an angle, rather than looking at each other.
The group I performed with, though, employed a style quite different, designed to appeal to young audiences. Chamber Readers is a nonprofit reader's theater company in Humboldt County, California, promoting reading and literature since 1975. Two teams, each with four readers, are directed by Jean Wagner, one of the founding members. Chamber Readers performs each year in nearly every public school in the county and is considered a local institution. Like traditional reader's theater, the Chamber Readers style is based on script reading and the suggestive power of language.