Readers Theatre

An exploration into Social Theatre

Grade Ten Drama
September 29th October 2nd 2015
Catholic Central High School
Alea Steinborn
Rationale:

Social Theatre is a way to take the world of the stage and bring it to
the real world so to speak. Social Theatre focuses on current and/or
pressing issues affecting the world today. It allows for a role-playing
situation where audiences can be engaged in issues and debate
without really feeling any threat from these issues. It is a safe place to
test the boundaries of right and wrong, safe and dangerous.
The Social Theatre in this unit is based upon the Grade Seven and
Grade Nine Health curriculum, bringing forth issues that plague young
people today and presenting positive options on how to deal with these
issues. Everything from healthy eating habits to saying no to tobacco
will be covered in this unit. This will allow the students to take part in
safe reinactments of scenarios they may find themselves in and ways
of handling these situations.
Readers Theatre is the perfect vehicle for this type of theatre, as it
requires very little in terms of movement and technicality. Readers
Theatre allows the issues and dialogue to come to the forefront.
Throughout this unit students will be introduced to ,both, Social and
Readers Theatre as well as aspects of voice and sound production.
Students will use the skills and knowledge they have learned about the
voice and apply it to their final presentation on a social issue in
Readers Theatre format.

Overview:
This unit will focus on

The Three Main goals of Drama:

o Goal 1: To acquire knowledge of self and others through
participation in and reflection of dramatic experience.
o Goal 2: To develop competency in communication skills
through participation in and exploration of various
dramatic disciplines.
o Goal 3: To develop an appreciation for drama and theatre
as a process and an art form

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Specific Outcomes of Voice Discipline

1. Demonstrate vocal relaxation and warm up techniques.
2. Apply effective breathing techniques.
3.Recognize the effect of good posture on voice.
4. Demonstrate knowledge of the parts of the body that
are associated with voice production. Vocal tracts, lungs,
diaphragm, bronchi, trachea, larynx, uvula, pharynx, vocal
folds.
5. Recognize how the jaw, lips, tongue, teeth and velum
play an important role in articulation.
6. Perform exercises to relax and improve the movement of
the articulators
7.Demonstrate knowledge of terms intonation, pitch,
projection, rate, volume, rhythm, resonance, pausing, and
phrasing in speech activities.
8. Recognize the resonators contribution to vocal quality.
9. Use and practices levels of pitch.
10. Demonstrate safe and appropriate safe and appropriate
projection.
11. Demonstrate how phrasing and pausing, intonation,
rate and rhythm affect meaning.
12. Create specific vocal sound effects.
13. Speak spontaneously within a given context.
14. Demonstrate effective narrative techniques.

Students will be working on skills such as articulation,

projection, research skills, personal and social
development, and social and cultural awareness.

TERMS:

o Articulation: The process of moving muscles and organs

involved in speech to create a desired sound or sounds.
o Projection: The act of communicating distinctly and
forcibly with an audience.
o Social Awareness: being aware of the problems or issues
within our society; also known as social consciousness
o Vocal Tracts: cavity in the human body where sound
travels through and is filtered after being produced.
o Lungs: Organs that supply the air for the production of
sound
o Diaphragm: Muscle that controls the inhale and exhale of
air; below the ribs; separates the abdominal cavity and the
thoracic cavity
o Bronchi: Main passageway into the lungs
o Trachea: The windpipe, the tube that connects the larynx
and the pharynx to the lungs, ribbed to hold its shape
o Larynx: Hollow muscular organ that houses the vocal
chords, also called the voice box.
o Uvula: The fleshy hanging part in the back of the throat,
used to block off the nasal passageway when swallowing
o Pharynx: The tube that connects the nasal passageway
and mouth with the esophagus
o Vocal Folds: Two infolding membranes that vibrate when
air passes through/over them, creating sound
o Velum: The soft palate, the part on the top of the mouth,
closest to the throat.
o Intonation: The rise and fall of the voice while speaking
o Pitch: The rate of vibrations, or the highness or lowness of
the voice
o Rate: The degree of speed in speech
o Volume: How loud or soft speech is
o Rhythm: the pattern of recurrent strong and weak
accents, vocalization and silence, and the distribution and
combination of these elements in speech.
o Resonance: Amplification of the audibility of sound that
happens in the cavities of the head along with the larynx
and pharynx and the upper chest.
o Pausing: Where breaks are taken in speech
o Phrasing: The way that words are put together
o Resonators: The parts of the body that amplify or filter
the sound that is created.
o Social Theatre: Theatre that focuses on social issues of
today
and is used to communicate a message or moral.

Resources/Materials:
o Health Line
www.healthline.com
o Shakespeare For Readers Theatre, by John Poulsen
o Various Childrens Story books

Assessment:
o Project, students will create a piece of social theatre, this
will be based upon topics that are presented in the Grade
Seven and Grade Nine Health Curriculum. Students will be
expected to create a Readers Theatre Piece based on a
twisted fairy tale that incorporates one of the previously
mentioned health issue. This will be assessed using a
rubric.
o Assignments, Journal, students will be asked to
complete a goal setting assignment that is done weekly.
This is focused on growth and personal development. The
subject will but up to the students discretion but could be
based upon the passages we read as a class. Anatomy
Worksheet, this worksheet will cover the basic anatomy
of voice production. During the presentation students will
complete this worksheet.
o Daily 4 mark, students will be marked daily out of 4 which
is specified in the course outline

Lesson One: Exploration of the Voice and Sound Creation

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes, September 28th, 2015
Focus: Students will learn the anatomy of the voice and sound
production as well as discovering was the change the natural speech
pattern. This day focuses mostly on terminology.
Activities:
Presentation on the anatomy of the voice
o Students will fill in notes on the anatomy of the voice this
includes the terms, velum, larynx, pharynx, lungs, bronchi,
diaphragm, trachea, uvula, and vocal folds. Students will
match the terms to the diagram. At then end of this
students will be asked to choose one of these pieces and
describe the function of it in detail. This will be done in Mrs.
Mitchells room (with her permission) so we can use the
SMARTboard.

Vocal Warm Up and Exploration (move from 131 to

theatre)

o Students are asked to stick their tongue out, closing their

eyes and opening their mouth as wide as we can. (This is
called the lion or the cat) Then students are asked to
tighten the muscles in their face so their face is really
small and tight (this is called the lemon) Students should
switch between the two
o Facial movements that go along with sound. Students are
to hum, scrunching their face up in various ways to create
louder and softer humming sound.
o Jaw massage, students are asked to make their mouth go
slack and fall open. Next students are asked to use the
heels of their hands and press them into the jaw socket,
trying to loosen it up. This should be relaxed, not tight in
anyway.
o Vocal range, students are asked to make an e sound as
low as they can go in their vocal range and then to as high
as they can go. They are then asked to rollercoaster their
voice (bring it high then low then high then low.
o Tongue Twisters, students are asked to follow the teacher in
repeating tongue twisters. We will start off with simple
ones like Red Leather, Yellow Leather, Rubber Baby
Buggy Bumpers, Irish Wristwatch, Stupid Superstition,
Good Blood, Bad Blood, Truly Rural and then move into
a more complex one To sit in solemn silence, on a dull
dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life long lock.
Awaiting the sensation of a short sharp shock from a cheap
and chippy chopper on a big black block The last one may
need to be broken down a bit just to learn the parts.
o Exploration of pitch, rhythm, rate and volume. Students
draw a phrase from a hat, that is their phrase then to work
with. They are asked first to play with the pitch, changing
the pitch so using both higher and lower sounds for each
word in the phrase. Students are asked to take a moment
to think about how pitch changes the meaning of what has
been said. Students are then asked to change the rhythm
of how they say the sentence, putting emphasis on
different words within the sentence and how that changes
meaning. They are then asked to change the rate of the
phrase, slowing it down and speeding it up, and how that
changes the meaning. And lastly students are asked to
play with the volume and how that changes meaning.
Lesson Two: Exploration of Social and Readers Theatre
Time: 2 hours and 40 minutes, September 29th, 2015

Focus: This lesson will focus on introducing students to two new types
of theatre (Social and Readers Theatre) and to what those two types
look like, and how they can exist together.
Activities:
Exploration of Readers Theatre
o Students are asked to get into groups and present a
childrens story. They are given very little guidance, just
asked to prevent this story using the techniques that we
learned yesterday. Students are given free reign, but a
short time to prepare.
o After students are asked what they think readers theatre is,
what elements from the performances were useful and
what werent how do we communicate a story using only
words. Together, students and teachers come up with
criteria for Readers Theatre.
Explanation of the Assignment
o Students are introduced to the concept of Social Theatre,
what it is and what it looks like and how it and Readers
Theatre work together so well. Students are then told that
they will be performing their Readers Theatre skits for the
health students of St. Francis. We will be going to them and
presenting Readers Theatre shows on health issues.
Choosing the Groups and Topics
o Students choose their groups (Groups must have both
genders, as well as students from outside their friend
groups and have between 3 and 5 members.) They then
choose the common story/fairy tale they want to base their
Readers Theatre piece on. They are then asked to choose a
health issue to incorporate into their story. After this is
done, students will write a script with a full beginning
middle and end, talking about this health issue.
Rehearsal (if time)
o Groups rehearse their Readers Theatre pieces. The terms,
blocking and polishing will be used in describing what they
need to do.
Lesson Three: Readers Theatre Rehearsal
Time: 2 Hours and 40 minutes, September 30th 2015
Focus: This class will focus on giving students time to rehearse their
piece and polish it so it is performance ready.
Activities:
Rehearsal
o Students will be given the rest of class after their warm up
to rehearse their piece. If students finish early there can be
a previewing time where the class or the teacher watches

and then gives feed back on things maybe to change or

add. This will get them ready to present the next day at St.
Francis. Props and costumes are minimal, they may include
a hat or shirt, and the only set or props should be a stool
and maybe a stand to put papers on.
Lesson Four: Social Readers Theatre Performance
Time: 2 hours and 40 minutes, October 1st 2015
Focus: The focus for this class is communication of the intended
message. Students will present their pieces to the St. Francis Students.
Activities:
Presentation/Performance
o The class will head over to St. Francis, taking with them
props and costumes. The students will perform their pieces
for both the Grade Seven and the Grade Nine Health
classes to teach them issues in health and how to
positively deal with them. If time, each group will go twice,
once for each class.

Label the Diagram: