Staged reading
Encyclopedia
A staged reading is a form of theatre
without sets
or full costumes
. The actors, who read from scripts, may be seated, stand in fixed positions, or incorporate minimal stage movement
.
A staged reading of a new play in development is an intermediate phase between a cold reading, with the cast usually sitting around a table, and a full production. A narrator may read stage directions aloud. The purpose is to gauge the effectiveness of the dialogue, pacing and flow, and other dramatic elements that the playwright or director may wish to adjust. Audience feedback contributes to the process. In play-development workshopping, the staged reading is one of the forms of workshop, along with the rehearsed reading, the exploratory workshop, and the full workshop production. It is an inexpensive way to get a new play in front of an audience.
A screenplay
in development that relies to a significant degree on dialogue rather than action may sometimes be given a staged reading, as a way to attract potential investors or to rehearse. As a form of public performance, the staged reading of a film script is like performing a radio play before a live audience, with emphasis on the use of imagination and on voice acting, which might require theatre actors and voice-over artists
.
Readers' theatre
is the staged reading of a fully developed or classic play, when the reading is itself the performance.
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
without sets
Theatrical scenery
Theatrical scenery is that which is used as a setting for a theatrical production. Scenery may be just about anything, from a single chair to an elaborately re-created street, no matter how large or how small, whether or not the item was custom-made or is, in fact, the genuine item, appropriated...
or full costumes
Stage clothes
Stage clothes is a term for any clothes used by performers on stage.More specifically, the term is sometimes used only for those clothes which are specially made for the stage performance by a costume designer...
. The actors, who read from scripts, may be seated, stand in fixed positions, or incorporate minimal stage movement
Blocking (stage)
Blocking is a theatre term which refers to the precise movement and positioning of actors on a stage in order to facilitate the performance of a play, ballet, film or opera. The term derives from the practice of 19th century theatre directors such as Sir W. S...
.
A staged reading of a new play in development is an intermediate phase between a cold reading, with the cast usually sitting around a table, and a full production. A narrator may read stage directions aloud. The purpose is to gauge the effectiveness of the dialogue, pacing and flow, and other dramatic elements that the playwright or director may wish to adjust. Audience feedback contributes to the process. In play-development workshopping, the staged reading is one of the forms of workshop, along with the rehearsed reading, the exploratory workshop, and the full workshop production. It is an inexpensive way to get a new play in front of an audience.
A screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
in development that relies to a significant degree on dialogue rather than action may sometimes be given a staged reading, as a way to attract potential investors or to rehearse. As a form of public performance, the staged reading of a film script is like performing a radio play before a live audience, with emphasis on the use of imagination and on voice acting, which might require theatre actors and voice-over artists
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
.
Readers' theatre
Reader's Theatre
Reader's theatre is a style of theatre in which the actors do not memorize their lines. Rather, they either go through their blocking holding scripts and reading off their lines, or else sit/stand together on a stage and read through the script together...
is the staged reading of a fully developed or classic play, when the reading is itself the performance.