Aaron's Update -- Reader's theater on Zoom

[Aaron Shepard]

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Note: This is the bulletin for Aaron Shepard's home page, Author Online!, featuring folktales, reader's theater, and storytelling at

http://www.aaronshep.com

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Dear friends,

I'm used to getting requests for permission to share performances of my reader's theater scripts online (though that is actually allowed without special permission). But with the coming of the coronavirus pandemic and its associated lockdowns, I started getting requests that struck me as decidedly odd: Groups wanted to perform the scripts online and remotely, with the actors logging in from separate locations!

The key to this, of course, was Zoom, an app I'd heard about but not yet tried. I knew it was being used for performances by individuals, but by scattered groups? Was that possible?

It turns out it is. I have seen only one finished product so far, and there are certainly some rough edges, but it's thoroughly enjoyable -- and it also looks like it was great fun to put together! It was put together by the Micro Theatre at the Broadway Tavern, and the script is "The Adventures of Mouse Deer." You can watch it on YouTube at the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqPssOU6BTU

I've also featured it on a new page on my Web site for reader's theater on Zoom.

http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/Zoom.html

As I become aware of more examples, I hope to post a few more of them there. To me, this is an exciting and fascinating branching in the evolution of reader's theater!

By the way, for teachers no longer allowed to use scripts on paper in their classrooms, remember that all the scripts on my Web site can be accessed by a browser on a phone or tablet.

http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE.html

Also, my books "Folktales on Stage" and "Stories on Stage" are available in inexpensive Kindle editions that can likewise be read on any device.

http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/books/index.html

Aaron