A Critical Examination of Readers Theatre

The search for the origin of Readers Theatre usually leads to Charles Laughton, Paul Gregory and Don Juan in Hell. This production and other Laughton-Gregory collaborations clearly influenced the form Readers Theatre took between 1950 and 1970, but it raises other questions. Readers Theatre has academic connections; it began as an extra-curricular activity before it was part of the Interpretation curriculum. Understanding Readers Theatre's place in its academic environment comes not from Laughton or Gregory, but from an examination of higher education itself, and in the formation of the Speech Department. Analysis of related work interpretation and Theatre reveals ideas that have an impact, directly or indirectly, on Readers Theatre. This analysis culminates in the recognition in the theatre a performer-text symbiosis, a concept which applies to Interpretation and Readers Theatre also, but has not been explored in these fields. The theories of Hegel and the practical work of Cicely Berry apply as much to Interpretation and Readers Theatre as they do to the theatre.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Theatre

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Guion, Keith Douglas

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hobgood, B.,

• Speech Communication
• Theater

Identifier

(UMI)AAI9114250

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/72506