The Reader's Theater offers a powerful way of bringing written material to life. The sample script below has been included to supply you with ideas on how to fashion your own dramatic presentation.

In order for the Reader's Theater to be successful, students must feel comfortable with what they are asked to read. Make sure that readers have rehearsed their portion of the script, and know when it is their turn to speak. Performers should stand at the front of the classroom; while it is not necessary for them to add drama to the script, they should use dramatic voices in their final presentation.

Students should divide reading parts among themselves and construct a creative way of presenting the reading. For example, several students might read a passage at the same time, using one student as a way of punctuating the reading. Or students might alternate sentences, taking turns to step forward from the rest of the group.

1. "We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain. . . that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States under the name of "The United States of America" is hereby dissolved." --Charleston, S.C., December 20, 1860

2. "The intelligence that Fort Sumter has surrendered to the Confederate forces. . . sent a thrill of joy to the heart of every true friend of the South. The face of every southern man was brighter, his step lighter, and his bearing prouder than it had been before." --Montgomery Advertiser

3. "I found for my substitute a big "Dutch" boy of twenty or thereabouts, for the moderate consideration of $1100. . . My alter ego could make a good soldier, if he tried. Gave him my address and told him to write to me if he found himself in the hospital or in trouble, and that I would try to do what I properly could to help him." --George Templeton Strong

4. "So impatient did I become for starting that I felt like a thousand pins were pricking me in every part of my body and started off a week in advance of my brothers." --Frank P. Peak, Arkansas

5. "We . . . would have given a thousand dollars . . . to have had our arm shot off, so we could have returned home with an empty sleeve. But the battle was over and we left out." --Sam Watkins

6. "The histories of the Lost Cause are all written by big bugs, generals and renowned historians. Well, I have as much right as any man to write a history." --Sam Watkins

7. "I always shot at privates. It was they that did the shooting and killing, and if I could kill or wound a private, why, my chances were so much the better. I always looked on officers as harmless personages." --Sam Watkins

8. "We were willing to go anywhere, or to follow anyone who would lead us. We were anxious to flee, fight or fortify. I have never seen an army so confused and demoralized. The whole thing seemed to be tottering and trembling." --Sam Watkins

9. "The first thing in the morning is drill. Then drill, then drill again. Then drill, drill, a little more drill, then drill. And lastly: drill. Between drills we drill and sometimes stop to eat a little and have a roll-call" --Private Oliver Norton, 83rd Pennsylvania

10. "Sunday was a sorrowful one at our home. My mother went about with tears in her eyes, while I felt disappointment that I could not express and therefore nursed my sorrow in silence."--Elisha Hunt Rhodes

11. "We drilled all day and night. . . Standing before a long mirror, I put in many hours of weary work and soon thought myself quite a soldier. . . I was elected First Sergeant, much to my surprise. Just what a First Sergeant's duties might be, I had no idea." --Elisha Hunt Rhodes

12. "Sunday a soldier of Company A died and was buried. Everything went on as if nothing had happened, for death is so common that little sentiment is wasted. It is not like death at home." --Elisha Hunt Rhodes

13. "You might as well attempt to put out the flames of a burning house with a squirt gun. I think this is going to be a long war--very long--much longer than any politician thinks." --William Tecumseh Sherman

14. "The heavy booming of a cannon--I sprang out of bed and on my knees, prostrate, I prayed as I have never prayed before." --Mary Chestnut

15. "Woe to those who began this war if they were not in bitter earnest." --Mary Chestnut

16. "Every day regiments march by. Charleston is crowded with soldiers. These new ones are running in, fairly. They fear the war will be over before they get sight of the fun. Every man from every little country precinct wants a place in the picture." --Mary Chestnut

17. "Women who come before the public are in a bad box now. . . . All manner of things, they say, come over the border under the huge hoops now worn. So they are ruthlessly torn off. Not legs but arms are looked for under hoops. And sad to say, found." --Mary Chestnut

18. "New Orleans gone--and with it the Confederacy? Are we not cut in two? That Mississippi ruins is, if lost." --Mary Chestnut

19. "Darkest of all Decembers ever my life has known, sitting here by the embers stunned, helpless, alone." --Mary Chestnut

 

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