Readers Theater
My senior year I took an elective course in Readers Theater. Our teacher, Mr. Pratt, had each of us analyze, cut, and direct four Readers Theater pieces, each from a different lliterary genre. Of course the rest of us had to perform in one another's pieces or persuade our friends and room-mates to help us out. It was a busy semester but it was a class I thrived in. I really liked Readers Theater with its various staging techniques such as on and off-stage focus, interpretive suggestion, and a restrained use of props, pantomime, and costuming that invited the listener to participate in staging the production with his own imagination.
For my short story or humorous production, I adapted Rudyard Kipling's The Butterfly That Stamped.
Our last piece was to be a half hour/forty-five minute compilation of material from several sources and literary genres. The theme of my compilation was the Alger Hiss - Whittaker Chambers case of the late '40's and early '50's as chronicled in Whittaker Chamber's book Witness, Richard Nixon's book Six Crises, and various hearing transcripts, magazines, and newspaper articles. I called it A Tragedy of History from a line of Chambers' testimony before the Un-American Activities Committee. In a way my piece was timely because Richard Nixon was President of the United States when I wrote it and it was before any of us ever heard about Watergate. The compilation was also personally timely because my family is very diverse in matters of politics and religion. You can find them scattered all over the political spectrum!
Things seem to come full circle and this piece seems timely again today because of all the political hearings and scandals we have been subjected to throughout the nineties and because of the popularity of conspiracy shows like the X-Files.
My compiled script is written from several view points: that of Whittaker Chambers himself, Richard Nixon, the public, and the press, and Administration. The main emphasis is on Whittaker, who was a very controversial personality in the eyes of the press and public. This script attempts to give some insight into the type of person this man really is, at least as I understood him when I wrote it as a senior in college.
As for directing the script for my class, in my first attempt at blocking it, I arranged all my people all around the room (stage) to give a suggestion of a hearing room. I also planned to use different playing areas. But upon actual trial, a pyramid arrangement of the group proved more practical and more interesting, for the audience could see all the reactions (the press, the public, the committeemen, etc.) going on at once, and this would enhance their understanding of the case and the way various segments of our population felt about it.