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From
Issue #1, Summer 2003 Something for everyone The purpose of the just published Institute Book of Readers Theatre is defined by the author as "a textbook for Readers Theatre classes, a guide for teachers who want to utilize Readers Theatre for various areas on all educational levels, a manual for theatre artists who have an interest in working outside the usual representational mode, a handbook for those involved with Social Services, and for those who need an outlet for public or private recreation, a record of the contributions the Institute has made to the field of Readers Theatre and a foundation for the future" At 345 oversized pages, this is an ambitious work which comes very close to offering something for everyone on the subject of Readers Theatre. Given the background of its author and contributing writers, it's formal academic structure comes as no surprise. But, without the ponderous prose which sometimes characterizes such projects, it is an easy read for the dilettante while offering the depth required by the professional Readers Theatre practitioner. It is, in fact, a self-declared text book structured for four professional applications; teaching, academic subject, theatre, social services. Though the substance of the work is timeless, the inclusion of dated photographs with no useful relationship to the text may unfairly outdate the book before its time. A few other date references embedded in the text might tend to dull the book's image as a permanent reference by forever emphasizing its year of publication. This is not important now, but it will be in a few years. The appendix is a stand-alone document promoting the Institute and its several enterprises. It seems to this reviewer that the longevity and distribution of the book would have been better served had all references to the Institute been reserved to the appendix, or eliminated entirely and distributed as a companion volume. This would preserve the text book itself as an impartial, objective, non-affiliated work of considerable substance. Nonetheless, the Institute Book of Readers Theatre is, for now, without peer and will likely be around for a long time. R. Demers This site
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