History of Gender Commons^™

Readers' Theatre As A History Teaching Tool, Sandra D. Harmon, Pamela Riney-Kehrberg, Susan Westbury

Pamela Riney-Kehrberg

LAST YEAR marked the one-hundred-and-fiftietha nniversaryo f the first women's rights convention held at Seneca Falls, New York. We wanted to celebrate the event with a dramatic presentation for our students. Lacking the skill to write a compelling play, we decided to put on a readers' theatre version of the convention. Such productions are engaging and relatively easy to stage as the actors read from scripts, usually without costumes or scenery. Readers' theatre also allows greater control over historical accuracy than a conventional play. Since history is only occasionally dramatic, the demands of theatre, whether on stage or in films …