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 Have you ever had thoughts of being an actor or actress but had trouble memorizing lines or had stage fright? Last summer, Reader’s Theatre was introduced to Legacy of Leesburg by fellow residents, Mike and Annie Kelley, bringing to the group 30 years of theatre experience.
Reader’s Theatre was originally developed as a way of introducing kids to theatre concepts. It differs from the “normal” theatre experience in several ways. First of all, readers (or performers) are actually reading their parts from a script during the performance, requiring no memorization. Secondly, no physical movements are performed, allowing anyone that may have physical difficulties a chance to participate. Third, the reader
is not the character, so anyone can read a part for which they may not have the right physical characteristics.
For example, a younger person can read the part of an older person, or a woman can read a male part. One reader can actually take the role of more than one character, if there are more characters than there are people present for the reading.
 Another Reader’s Theatre group has also been formed at Royal Harbor by Russell and Norine Spitzer, Harbor Lights Theatre Club. The Spitzers started a group in North Carolina and when they moved to Royal Harbor, decided to introduce the concept to their new community. So far, there are 45-50 members attending regular productions. In January the group had five production dates and a presentation at the Tavares library.
As the Reader’s Theatre groups develop, their goals are to be able to join residents from other communities to “stage performances” and, hopefully, this type of theatre can be introduced to local hospitals and nursing homes. It provides an avenue to learn about literary works and become more familiar with the theatre arts. It also gives “wannabe” actors a chance to show their “stuff” without suffering from forgotten lines or stage fright.
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