From
Issue #10, Fall, 2005
EDITOR'S
NOTES
With ten issues
and some sixty articles behind us, we're getting to know ourselves better
and we have a clearer sense of where we should be going. But we face
a number of challenges. Foremost, as far as The RTDigest is concerned,
is to achieve and maintain balance between the several broad areas of
Readers Theatre practice. Clearly, its use in schools dominates the
field. If left at that, the danger is that RT becomes identified as
primarily an educational tool at the risk of losing its identity as
THEATRE.
Maintaining a
healthy balance is more easily said than done. While there is no shortage
of source material relating to any branch of RT, finding enough good
writers willing to make a contribution to RT in all its uses and styles
is of concern to us. We've been very fortunate to have attracted contributors
who are not only good writers, but highly experienced in Readers Theatre.
But, while we have the talent we need the numbers to share the burden
of producing varied content on a quarterly basis. To
help solve this dilemma, we are building relationships with several
major players in the field of RT to help broaden our base of expert
contributors.
In another area,
we'll be making a special effort towards convincing Community Theatres
of the value of RT and the benefits of including this style in their
regular schedule. It will be a tough sell. Most Community Theatre folk
consider RT as simply not "real theatre" or as merely unrehearsed
play readings. The Challenge: how to reach the leaders in Community
Theatre with the quality and depth of information needed to make the
necessary impression.
Another goal
is to promote interest among competent writers and playwrights to create
original material for RT. Those who depend on writing for all or some
of their income are correct in seeing little of monetary value in writing
for RT. Readers theatre scripts for the classroom are endemic on the
Internet and are, for the most part, free. When used in a classroom
milieu they enjoy the benefits of the Fair Use doctrine of the Copyright
Law. Not much potential income there.
Creators of RT
scripts and of the sources quoted therein enjoy the same copyright protection
as that enjoyed by regular playwrights. Unfortunately, in too many instances
this aspect of Readers Theatre is quietly disregarded. Until there is
substantial corrective movement in this area, RT scripts will probably
remain adaptive (which itself can raise sticky copyright issues) and
mostly written by those whose expertise may not necessarily include
writing for performance.
Challenges can
sometimes be daunting, but they can also be inspiring. We can't predict
the degree of success of our efforts over the next few years, but we
can promise a good effort.
Readers Theatre
is THEATRE with some amazing non-theatre uses. And that's pretty much
where we're coming from.
Thanks and God
Bless.
Bob Demers
Editor-Publisher
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