From
Issue #4, Winter 2004
Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Staged
Reading Program By Gemma Drouhard,
Tacoma School of the Arts student and
SRT intern
In a world where
television, movies, and the Internet are a necessity of teenage life,
important literature can be left in the dust. Some teens think reading
is boring and only for adults. Others find that they don’t have
time to enjoy school assigned books as well as reading on their own
time. Staged Reading, a program created by the Seattle Repertory Theatre,
Seattle Children’s Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, and Book-It
Repertory Theatre, is changing that way of thinking for middle-schoolers
all around Seattle. One school is Washington Middle School, where Seattle
Rep teaching artists Scott Koh, Beverly Thompson, and Kelly Kitchens
will help the students discover new worlds in literature through theater.
For two weeks the
teaching artists work alongside the teacher to get students excited
about literature. Their goal is to help students from both ends of the
learning spectrum understand great plays and how they can relate to
teenage life. Last year at Shorecrest Middle School the subject was
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This spring the
schools will focus on the play It Ain’t Nothin' But the Blues
by Charles Bevel, Lita Gaithers, Randal Myler, Ron Taylor, and Dan Wheetman.
Besides reading the play, the classes will study the play in-depth,
learning about the history of blues in America and how the themes of
the show are expressed in music, acting, and movement. Instead of passively
reading a play, the students are involved, acting out scenes and trying
interactive theater techniques, while at the same time exploring the
essential meaning behind the play and unearthing new aspects of their
own lives. Last year while studying Shakespeare students each wrote
their own original sonnets. Similarly, for It Ain’t Nothin'
But the Blues, the eighth graders will write and perform their own
blues songs.
Acting the play
themselves and performing original works creates a new and stimulating
way to teach literature to students. Shona Strausser, a teaching artist
from last year’s program, is convinced of its effectiveness, saying,
“My students welcomed all of my curriculum and often went beyond
my expectations. The students challenged me to stay ahead of them-they
were so hungry to learn.” An interest in reading and learning can
benefit a student immensely, especially if this new found hobby continues
into high school and college, where academics only become more challenging.
Well-developed literary skills can bring a below-average student up
to the top of the class, and the Staged Reading program seeks to make
sure middle school students in Seattle have that skill.