After readers have responded to the story's plot, mood and style, each reader chooses a certain character to portray. A narrator can also be appointed if the audience could benefit from a few lines of background at the beginning or during events in the performance. If there is not very much dialogue, at this point, older children can use the story to compose their own script. Readers should be able to look at the audience while speaking, but do not have to worry about memorizing their lines as they will be reading from their scripts during the performance. When it is time to stage the play, readers' theatre can be presented on a stage or in a corner of the classroom.
Students stand or sit in a row and read their lines in the script.
They must stay in position through the presentation, but they can stand up or step forward before reading if they wish. 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.