So basically I’ve been tasked with helping my public JHS do well at a city-wide Reader’s Theater competition that’s taking place in a couple months. I have some experience in this field but was wondering if there is anyone out there with some real expertise or at least some insight on how to win at these types of competitions. Of course, I want the kids to have fun and improve their English but I also really do want to crush the competition if possible. I know that each city competition probably differs (not to mention the judges) in some respects, but if there are some general insights or tips, I would love to hear them.
A few questions I’m currently wondering:
How important is the originality of the script? Should I try to write something that stands out as unique or go with something familiar (like a Disney adaptation)?
Will the judges care or not regarding the moral of the story? I’ve seen quite a few performances related to SDGs.
Should I encourage my performers to be extremely theatrical, moderately, or subdued?
Any tips and shared experience would be welcome! Thanks.
Step two: acknowledge that you are stuck with this thankless task
Step three: always remember that 0% of RT is based on anything that any Westerner would consider to be a “good performance”. You spend ten hours getting the kids to have great and natural sounding fluency but you are 100% guaranteed to have a local teacher come in and completely change that, making sure they all pause in weird places, place emphasis on the wrong syllables, etc. And the gestures. Children’s theater, broadway, etc., etc., you never see gestures anywhere quite like the ones they expect in Taiwanese RT.
My favorite RT performance was one where they were performing some totally innocent children’s story, but when they said “mom” with all the associated stupid emphasis, The whole group started singing “Mamma mia, here I go again. My, my, how can I resist you? Mamma mia, does it show again? My, my, just how much I’ve missed you?” as if that’s in any way remotely fitting (or…appropriate?! Do they know what that song is about?!) for the situation.
What will win the competition will be a horrible performance based on anything we have experience with. I tried some years ago to show what actual RT looked like and it was immediately dismissed as “not the Taiwanese ‘style’” that matched nz’s description to a “T”.
You will have to choose between a real performance (I’d add a reflection stage in which the kids judge their own performance to real ones…) or a winning one. They are not mutually inclusive.