Aaron Shepard Readers’ Theater– http://www.aaronshepard.com/rt/RTE.html – A variety of themes and genres for a variety of age groups (these stories are aimed at ages 7 and up) but it is nicely organized to easily find the story that will fit the needs of the classroom initiatives.
Crash Course– https://thecrashcourse.com/courses/theaterdrama – Transforming the traditional textbook model by presenting information in a fast-paced format, enhancing the learning experience. This webpage does not provide scripts but videos showcasing a variety of genres of drama to learn from. Note: View episode before showing to class – the language used may not be appropriate for some classrooms.
Drama Notebook– https://www.dramanotebook.com/plays-for-middle-school-high-school/ – Royalty-free plays for middle school and high school students. There are one-act plays, full-length plays, and scenes. Comedies and dramas for school performances. Most scripts are only $1.00 but longer plays with additional learning material will be a little bit more in cost. No royalties, per script fees or video fees.
Pioneer Drama Service– https://www.pioneerdrama.com/Default.asp – Offers wholesome scripts appropriate for community and children’s theatres, youth theatres, church groups and school productions. Affordable scripts offer flexible casts, simple sets, straightforward costuming and trouble-free props and stage effects.
platowasright– http://www.thebestclass.org/rtscripts.html – A treasure trove of readers’ theatre scripts in alphabetical order and detailing the number of readers in brackets. All the scripts are in PDF.
Playbooks– https://www.readerstheater.com/ – The leading supplier of social-interactive, role-play reading enrichment materials in the nation with its patented Roleplay Reader® format of color-coded dialogue text and easier and harder roles in the same story.
Playscripts– https://www.playscripts.com/high-school – Bringing new plays and musicals to professional, school, community, and college theaters to perform, read and enjoy. These plays represent a great diversity of voices, styles, and stories and offer a fresh perspective on the human experience.
Readers Theater All Year– https://www.readerstheaterallyear.com/ – Providing a free “Limited Lunchbox” of trustworthy Readers Theater scripts, plus a yummy growing Script Buffet for members–all with annotated curriculum links for easy lesson plans, unit studies, and extension activities. There is so much more on the website than just free scripts and some of the features may only be accessible by purchasing a membership.
Readers Theater Works!– https://www.readerstheaterworks.org/ – A nonprofit literacy education company for kids aged 7 through 17. They use the discipline of theater as a tool to motivate kids to learn reading fluency and comprehension.
Read Write Think – A lesson called “Recording Readers Theatre” has been designed for students from grade 9-12 (outlined in six 60-minute sessions). There is a Readers Theatre Rubric designed for grades 3-12 but teachers could adapt it for students in younger grades.
Scripts for Schools– https://www.scriptsforschools.com/readers-theater – The website is pretty well put together. There is some good information about how to do readers’ theatre at primary, intermediate and older levels. However, it is a paid website.
Stage Partners– https://www.yourstagepartners.com/collections/plays-for-high-schools – Founded in 2015 by Jason Pizzarello and Morgan Gould, two internationally-produced playwrights who wanted to serve young artists and audiences around the globe. Although all the plays are available for purchase, teachers can preview the whole play for free before buying.
Star Wars Reader’s Theater – The Star Wars Reader’s Theater Guide is not a website but a PDF document that was found during research. As it was an upload by Disney in 2015, there is no clear indication of how long it will be available so it is advised to download it now and consider using later.
Teaching Heart Readers’ Theater– http://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm – A variety of themes and stories that students will already be familiar with on this page. Also available: tips on reading scripts and voice inflection as well as a sample assessment form.
Teach Starter– https://www.teachstarter.com/au/teaching-resource-collection/readers-theatre/ – The scripts provide you with information regarding the number of parts available for students and the approximate reading age. Also provided is a script tracker to help you record which scripts have been used by different groups and students.
The Drama Teacher– https://thedramateacher.com/100s-of-free-play-scripts-for-drama-students/ – This is an updated collection of 100s of free play scripts for Drama students. These websites all contain dramatic play scripts that are free to download and use in the classroom. Drama students and teachers will find this handy set of free resources useful for either serious study or just plain fun.
Youth Plays – https://www.youthplays.com/ – Publishes a diverse range of talented and original dramatic voices, both new and established, from all over the world, in order to provide a superior, carefully curated collection of plays and musicals for young actors and audiences. There are some free scenes and monologues for K-12 students.
Information Pages for Teachers New to Readers’ Theatre:
Absolute Shakespeare– https://absoluteshakespeare.com/ – The essential resource for William Shakespeare’s plays, sonnets, poems, quotes, biography and the legendary Globe Theatre.
Folger Shakespeare Library– https://www.folger.edu/teach-learn – This is an actual place to visit but the weblink provided is specifically for educators. There are some free resources but the is a membership fee to become a teacher member and take advantage of more materials and professional development.
My Shakespeare– https://myshakespeare.com/ – A media-rich, full-text edition of six Shakespeare plays including Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew and Midsummer Night’s Dream. Teacher materials provide comprehensive curriculum for teaching Shakespeare’s plays, including lesson plans, act-by-act resources, ideas for essays and projects, and tips for teaching Shakespeare. The interactive content section does not require a user login but the study tools will require a login.
Open Source Shakespeare– https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/ – It has become one of the most popular Shakespeare sites on the Internet. It is used regularly by scholars, educators, and Shakespeare lovers around the world. Look up individual words in the Concordance (index). Note: The sonnets have actually been identified as sonnets and not just “poetry”.
Shakespeare Online– http://www.shakespeare-online.com/ – A teaching aid used in classrooms all over the world with approximately 1.3 million unique users per month. Recommended by Read.gov website. Fascinating facts, study questions, and annotations for Shakespeare’s sonnets and plays are being added daily.
Shakespeare Resource Center– https://www.bardweb.net/index.html – Here are collected links from all over the World Wide Web to help you discover William Shakespeare. There are millions of pages that reference Shakespeare on the Internet. This site aims to make it a little easier to find the most useful ones. There are a lot of useful tools – including a timeline, historical information, Shakespeare’s syntax as well as monologues and scenes to perform.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare– http://shakespeare.mit.edu/ – Basically has all the written work broken into groups with the titles of comedy, history, tragedy and poetry.
The Literature Network – http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/ – This section provides a short biography of Shakespeare along with his written work broken into tragedies, comedies, histories and poetry. There are quizzes and related links as well.
The Shakespeare Study Guide – http://www.shakespearestudyguide.com/ – Plot summaries of all the plays, including those of doubtful or joint authorship. Narrative and complaint poems as well as the sonnets explained. Information of Shakespeare’s craft, the theatre, printing and publishing as well as the life and times of Shakespeare.
Greek Comedies / Tragedies
Ancient Greek Theater– https://www.reed.edu/humanities/110Tech/Theater.html – A pretty good explanation of Greek Theater with timelines, origins, structure and staging. However, the excerpt links to a few Greek plays no longer work.
Drama Notebook– https://www.dramanotebook.com/plays-for-kids/greek-theatre-plays-2/ – Unlike some of the other sections of this website that have a good selection of plays for as little as $1.00, it appears that the greek plays require a bit more of a cost. The stories are good but be prepared to pay quite a bit more for the right to use them.
Greek Myth Plays– This is actually a link to a PDF document with 10 Readers Theatre Scripts based on favorite Greek Myths that students can read and develop fluency.
Imagining History– https://www.imagininghistory.co.uk/post/ancient-greek-theatre-activities-for-kids – The origins of theatre can be traced back to the Ancient Greeks. They were the first to present performances in the form of hymns sung to the Greek god Dionysus. The singers of these hymns would form a ‘chorus’ and dress up in costumes and masks (and the first performance was formed).
PBS Learning Media – A video entitled “Introduction to Greek Drama” has been provided with a few support materials (a background essay, an activity and discussion questions).
Teach Greece– http://www.teachgreece.org/Study_Guides/Greek_Theater/ – This project introduces Greek theater through three lessons that teach students how to make inferences. Learning to make inferences, or reading between the lines, is a technique that can improve comprehension and aid the retention of new material.
Theatre Links– https://theatrelinks.com/greek-playscripts/ – Find the full text to the plays of the great classical tragedians Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles as well as works of the comic playwright Aristophanes. A link to an overview of the period in which ancient Greek play scripts were first performed is located in the introductory paragraph, before the script links.
Aaron Shepard Readers’ Theater – http://www.aaronshepard.com/rt/RTE.html – A variety of themes and genres for a variety of age groups (these stories are aimed at ages 7 and up) but it is nicely organized to easily find the story that will fit the needs of the classroom initiatives.
Drama Notebook – https://www.dramanotebook.com/plays-for-middle-school-high-school/ – Royalty-free plays for middle school and high school students. There are one-act plays, full-length plays, and scenes. Comedies and dramas for school performances. Most scripts are only $1.00 but longer plays with additional learning material will be a little bit more in cost. No royalties, per script fees or video fees. 