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From Issue #13, Summer
2006
The following article is an abridgement
of the Introduction to Performing Parables: Religious Folk Tales,
Legends, and Fables for Readers Theatre reviewed
elsewhere in this issue.
Of
Parables, Church and RT
By Fr. Matthew Powell
mpowell@providence.edu
St. Matthew's Gospel tells us that
Jesus taught the crowds by way of parables. "Indeed he said nothing
to them without a parable" (Mt 13:34).
The American Heritage Dictionary
defines a parable as "a simple story illustrating a religious or
moral lesson". John L. McKenzie in Dictionary of the Bible defined
a parable as "a wise saying or fictitious short story used by Jesus
to set forth his teaching". Jesus was, in fact, following a long
line of rabbinic tradition of using stories to illustrate a lesson.
This method of teaching was, and still is, very effective
How many modern preachers would lull their congregations into a stupor
with a theological discourse about the necessity of an active response
to the Gospel? Jesus, instead, told the people the short but interesting
story about the sower and the seed. Twenty centuries later even we urban
dwellers respond to that simple country metaphor.
Some folk tales, legends, and fables
can be effective with audiences in much the same way as the biblical
parables. Though fictional, they can reveal important truths to the
listeners
If you are jolted by the use of
the words actors, preacher, and teacher in the same sentence, let me
remind you of the tradition of Christian drama that began in the churches
in the tenth century with a brief play about the three Marys going to
the tomb of Jesus on Easter morning. Theater was used in teaching and
preaching several centuries before the chalkboard and the microphone.
Readers theater, which experienced
a rebirth in the 1960s, may go back as far as ancient Greece. Certainly
we know that the first known woman playwright, Hrosvitha of Gandersheim
(c. 935-1001), produced her plays as staged readings for the nuns of
her abbey. The laudi of medieval Italy, narrative religious stories
with delineated characters, were sung or recited by a group of singers
or readers. Readers theater still thrives in the Christian liturgy in
the group reading of the Gospel on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Readers
theater is a cross between oral interpretation (solo oral reading) and
a fully staged theatrical production. Leslie Irene Coger and Melvin
R. White defined readers theater as "group reading of material
involving delineated characters, with or without a narrator, in such
a manner as to establish the focus of the piece not onstage but in the
imagination of the audience" (Readers Theater Handbook 8). The
simple style of readers theater, which usually involves performing with
scripts in hand, emphasizes narration and storytelling. Unlike a visual
extravaganza (for which there is certainly a cherished place in performing
arts), readers theater challenges the audience members to use their
imaginations.
Readers theater has several important
advantages that can make it a benefit to the teacher and the preacher.
First, stories that would not ordinarily
lend themselves to traditional production can be performed. Stories
involving flying angels, violent storms, wild animals, inanimate objects
that speak, or miracles would be technically or financially prohibitive
for most of us to produce in traditional form. However, with readers
theater, narration and the audience's imagination accomplish the task.
Second, it can be staged almost
anywhere-classroom, lounge, church sanctuary, even outdoors. All one
needs is space enough for the actors/readers and the audience.
Third, casting is more flexible, especially in regard to age and gender.
Because of its oral reading and storytelling qualities and its emphasis
on imagination, physical similarities between the actor and the character
are seldom important. A seventy-year-old man can read the role of the
young hero and be believed by the audience. A young woman can read the
lines of the devil, traditionally a male role, and be accepted as such
in the imagination of the audience. In addition, one actor, with slight
changes in voice, can portray two or more characters, as was commonly
done in radio drama.
Fourth, production and rehearsal
time is usually less than in other forms of theater. Costumes and scenery
should be either simple or nonexistent. Elaborate scenery and costume
will, in fact, detract from the imaginative and storytelling qualities
of the art form. Actors in readers theater generally carry and refer
to their manuscripts during the performance, cutting down on the need
for full memorization. Some directors do dispense with scripts and insist
that the roles be memorized. Most directors (including this author)
prefer the presence of the script. The presence of the script reminds
the audience that they are listening to and watching a story. Do not
assume, however, that because the actors use scripts that a readers
theater production does not need to be rehearsed. Nothing could be further
from the truth.
Moliere said that all that is needed
for theater is "a platform and a passion or two." Consequently,
a readers theater production should be kept simple- in the tradition
of Thornton Wilder and Paul Sills-with the focus on the story, the performers,
and the audience's imagination.
Last, readers theater can be used
with and for people with various disabilities. Because there is limited
physical movement in readers theater, actors confined to wheelchairs
or using walkers or canes can play the roles. Also, because scripts
are generally used during performances, the director can cast elderly
actors who might have difficulty memorizing lines. And because, like
radio drama, most of the action is narrated or suggested, blind and
visually impaired audience members will miss little or nothing at a
readers theater performance.
For more information on readers
theater, consult the following titles.
Audiotape
• Readers Theater-Its Methods &
Techniques by Marion Fairman, PhD. Available from Contemporary Drama
Service (Box 7710, Colorado Springs, CO 80933. 1-800-937-5297). A good
place for the inexperienced director to begin.
Books
• Readers Theater Handbook: A Dramatic
Approach to Literature by Leslie Irene Coger and Melvin R. White
(Glenview, Ill.: Scott Foresman and Company, 1967, 1973, 1982). A classic
in the field, but it is, unfortunately, out of print. If your local
library doesn't have it, they should be able to get it for you through
inter-library loan. You might also try an out-of-print book service.
• RT: A Readers Theater Ministry by
Todd V. Lewis (Kansas City, Mo.: Lillenas Publishing Company, 1988).
Covers readers theater in the church setting. Written from an Evangelical
Protestant perspective, but others should find most of it very helpful.
• Readers Theater Fundamentals by
Fran Averett Tanner (Topeka, Kan.: Clark Publishing, Inc., 1987, 1993).
Available from the publisher (P.O. Box 19240, Topeka, KS 66619. 1-800-845-1916).
• Experimental Theater: Creating and Staging
Texts by Judy E. Yordon (Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press,
Inc., 1997). Available from the publisher (P.O. Box 400, Prospect Heights,
IL 60070. 847-634-0081). For the more experienced director.
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