Readers' Theater: any thoughts? ever heard of one?

Hi everyone,

Have you ever heard of a Readers’ Theater? In a Readers’ Theater you act out real life situations with non-professional actors to convey messages. It works as a catalyst to help others develop awareness and understanding on a particular topic. A Readers’ can be live or recorded. It is sort of like a movie or play.

Participating in a Readers’ Theatre
I recently was given the opportunity to be in a Readers’ Theater at the company I work at. It was sponsored by our Diversity Advisory Council (DAC). The Readers Theater I participated in tells real stories about diversity and inclusion in the work place. The stories convey negative attitudes some people have about other people, who might be different than in some way from them. The stories also offer recommendations to remedy each of the scenarios portrayed. Since I am completely blind, I learned and experienced differences in people and attitudes about people who are blind.

Failure was not a option!
When I first accepted my role I was very enthused to help out and jumped at the chance. ¬Once I received my lines to memorize and read, the reality of what I just accepted sunk in. Because I am completely blind, it meant studying my lines on my PC with a screen reader or on my Braille note taker. It took forever for me to memorize just the first few sentences. I felt a little bit overwhelmed. At one point, I thought I had no chance at memorizing my lines. However, I kept trying to remember more and more of my lines each day. I decided “failure wasn’t an option.” Others were counting on me and I didn’t want to let the others down, just because I could not see. Soon, I had memorized most of the lines, but kept missing a word here and there. I kept practicing---saying the lines over and over around the house, on walks and in the shower. I think my wife could even recite my lines, because she had heard me murmuring them for days. Preparing took a little extra effort as I wouldn’t have the benefit of looking at the teleprompter, if I forgot a line or two. I accepted this challenge.

The show goes on
On our first day of filming, I was very excited. Everyone participating in the Readers’ Theatre was part of a team I had been working with for sometime virtually. I had never met any of my virtual team in person before, so I looked forward to this in-person adventure.

We filmed in a building I was not familiar with so I did not know how to get around. Everyone on the team was so helpful, I never had to worry at all. However, once the film started to roll, the pressure was on! I had been going over my lines over and over again on my Braille note taker as the others read their scripts on printed paper.

When it was my turn to be filmed, I felt very tense as I concentrated on my lines and the order of them. Actually, I felt like a frozen statue. When I heard my cue to start I felt much better. I tried to relax and not be so stiff looking. After we completed our part the directors said that we needed to do another take. I felt good in a way and tense in another way --- I was glad to try to do even better, but nervous about being nervous again. My first thought was, “Why am I being nervous about being nervous.” If this was all I was nervous about, maybe I did not need to be nervous at all. Admitting that to myself, made me relax. When it was my turn, I spoke clearly and slowly. The person who was acting with me did just as well. We were in sync this time! What a relief!

If you ever get the chance to be in a Readers Theater, jump at the chance! This is especially true if the final product will help others to better understand the value of diversity in people. You won’t regret it!!

Has anyone else experienced or participated in a Readers Theater?
Anyone have any questions or feedback regarding this type of learning tool?

Look forward to hearing from you.

Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

Comments

[Jake]

Hi Bill and everyone. First off, I'd like to apologize for my multiple posts in the May 2 blog entry on the Networking Forum. I was using a different computer at the time, and apparently the computer thought I never actually submitted my thoughts when I did. Apparently I was heard loud and clear though! Now onto a readers theater. I think Center for Independent Futures has something like this called the VIP Academy, and it sounds very interesting. I will definitely talk with someone about it when I get the chance. I guess Illinois is just one of those "you have to see it to believe it" cases when it comes to state services for people with disabilities. We are ranked number 49. It really makes one wonder who is number 50, if Illinois isn't there yet. I have continued to try various approaches to get this O&M issue resolved, and nobody wants to help. My friends and family want to help me, but it's become all too clear that nobody does who is connected with the state. They will not even respond anymore to emails or phone calls. I can't even ask anyone what to do about my VR case. It is honestly that bad at this point. But I guess the fight's not over yet.

[Avril]

Hi Bill,

I really enjoyed reading about your Readers' Theatre experience. As you know, I participated in something different yet similar, called Forum Theatre. In Forum Theatre you also have a group of non-professional actors acting out situations from their lives. The scenes and characters we create are fictional, but they are made up of people and situations we're familiar with and illustrate a conflict around a particular issue.

In a Forum Theatre performance we do the plays twice. The first time we do the whole story through (the plays are short - maybe 5 minutes long). The second time, audience members are invited to stop the action at any point and intervene by replacing one of the characters and saying or doing things differently. The idea is that by changing what they say or do, they will shift the dynamic in such a way that it will reduce the conflict, or at least increase mutual understanding.

It's a very powerful way to deal with community issues, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to try new approaches to conflict resolution!

[Bill Tipton]

Hi Avril,

Thanks a lot for sharing. The Forum Theatre you participated in sounds very similar as you mentioned. I’ll bet the community that was able to participate in your Forum Theatre really benefited from it. With the Forum Theatre it sounds like you can receive feedback immediately. I’ll bet it was very exciting watching the expressions on the faces in the audience as you acted out your part.

I have never acted live in front of an audience yet. I have given live talks to audiences. Being blind I cannot watch the expressions on the faces of the audience. I can tell how the audience is reacting to what I am talking about by the noises they make. I can adjust on the fly a little depending on how I perceive sections of my talks are being accepted or interpreted. I’ll bet you heard the noises from the audience as well, so might know what I mean.

Thanks for sharing your great experience with all of us. I’ll bet the audience learned a lot from you, other members of the Forum Theatre and from each other as they got into participating in such a lively interaction. Has anyone else ever participated in or watched such a theater event like these?

Hope to hear from you.

Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

[Bob Demers]

Bill -- Can you be reached by email other than on this blog? I'd still like to dialogue a bit about a possible article (See my 6/4/06 post above)

Thanks and God Bless.

Bob Demers
[email protected]