Tips for Writing Kids' Plays

If you write for children, don't limit yourself to traditional fiction. Use your story-telling skills to create plays kids will love. Here are a few suggestions about how to do it:

                         1)     Be realistic. Your script probably won't be performed on Broadway or turned into a blockbuster movie. Avoid special effects, amazing stunts, or anything else that can't be accomplished by ordinary kids. Keep costumes, sets, and props to a minimum. Writing in the readers theatre format is one of the best ways to create a play that's simple to stage but exciting in content.

2)     Use an adjustable cast.  Of course, you want to follow publishers' guidelines about size of cast and number of female/male roles. But you can make your play adaptable to various situations by building in some casting flexibility. When possible, include group characters like "Other Students" or "Rest of Student Council." Use some unisex names for characters or double up on titles, such as "Aunt/Uncle" or "Mr./Ms." Adding a narrator provides a large  and handy gender neutral part.

3)     Spread the glory around. Not only is it difficult for one kid to carry most of a play, it's just no fun. All the actors want to have their moment – and their parents expect to see it. Instead of letting your main character do all the talking, distribute lines among a number of roles. If you use group characters (see #2), give them lines that allow for adlibs so everyone gets to say something. For example:
             Other Students: What? Are you kidding? I don't believe it! (Etc.)
           And most importantly, give secondary characters interesting personalities and some problems of their own – that makes them fun to play and entertaining to watch.

4)     Make sure your dialogue rings true. Some characters need to sound pompous, old-fashioned, affected, formal, or otherwise theatrical. Those parts are usually easy to write! Creating realistic dialogue for contemporary young characters can be much more challenging. Real kids don't speak lyrically, reciting over-their-heads vocabulary with perfect grammar. They use contractions and slang, start new sentences without finishing old ones, and interrupt each other. Listen to kids talk to get an idea of how to recreate their conversations, read your dialogue out loud with a critical ear, and polish, polish, polish. Nothing is more essential to a good play than well-written dialogue!  

5)     Step outside the box. Today's kids are used to media that breaks boundaries. They've experienced actors who speak directly to the camera, characters who "know" they're in a television program, and games that allow almost-real interaction. So don’t be afraid to experiment a little with your play! Let the narrator express personal opinions about what's happening onstage. Allow your main character to argue with the narrator. Place a heckler in the audience or bring an audience member on stage. This kind of creativity works especially well in humorous scripts, but it can also add emotional impact to serious plays.

6)     Tell a story. Despite its different format, a play is still a story – and you want to make it a good one! Create a relatable main character, give him/her a problem worth caring about, go through a complete story arc, end up with a good lesson that's not too heavy-handed, etc., etc., just as you would when writing a kids' story or book. This doesn't just apply to serious drama – funny plays need to be well-written, too! Skits constructed of nothing but jokes, gags, and one-liners can be fun, but they're not really satisfying to audiences, young performers, or the adults who work with kids. Make your script meaningful, as well as entertaining. That's the kind of play that gets published and performed!

Want to sell your plays? Here are some possible markets.

Readers Theatre: Shortcut to Dramatic Success

     Just think of what could go wrong if your students put on a public performance!
     Go ahead. I’ll wait….

     Did you imagine the awkward silence that hangs in the air when someone forgets his lines?
     Maybe you visualized a catastrophic set collapse? Or a time-sensitive prop that breaks at the very second it’s needed?
     Perhaps a long-buried memory of some costuming trauma broke into your consciousness? Ripped seams? Dropped pants? Disintegrating turbans?
     Or did you envision the director’s worst nightmare – the absent actor! Oh, the horror!
     Now take a deep breath and read on to find out about the cure for all these problems: readers theatre!

What is readers theatre?

     In readers theatre, actors keep their scripts and read their lines instead of memorizing them. Costumes, sets, props, and even movement are not needed. Kids can just sit there and read!

What’s so great about readers theatre?

     Since the actors always have their scripts right in front of them, there’s a lot less pressure in readers theatre. The constant worry that someone’s going to forget a line is gone! Kids can feel more confident about performing well – and they can handle “bigger” roles than they thought possible.
     Needing less rehearsal to put together a production is another benefit of readers theatre. You don’t have to keep practicing until you’ve pounded the lines into everybody’s heads! And you don’t need to spend time blocking out movements and rehearsing them over and over. Usually, the actors just sit quietly on chairs or stools until it’s time to read their parts. If you want to get fancy, you can have the actors put their backs to the audience when they’re not reading and turn around when they are.
     And let’s face it: the extras like costumes, sets, and props add a lot of hard work to a production. They can cause problems, too, when they malfunction, break, or disappear. Leaving them out of your readers theatre production means you’ll be ready for a public performance more quickly – and things are likely to run more smoothly.
     And if your star is absent? No big deal! Somebody else can simply read the part. Having someone understudy big roles just in case is a good idea, but the show can still go on even if you don’t do that.

But props are fun! And costumes are cute! And isn’t all that sitting around kind of boring?

     Remember – we’re talking about a shortcut here. Readers theatre can get you to a successful performance quickly. Without all the extras, your rehearsals can focus on good expression, authentic emotion, and realistic portrayals. So a readers theatre production is anything but boring!
     However, the extras are fun so you may want to use traditional readers theatre to get started and change things up later. After a few productions, you and your students might be ready to add some movements, costumes, props, or sets to their performances. You may even work into doing “regular” theatre, dropping scripts and memorizing lines. But don’t feel you have to make a big production out of your theatre program. Keep things as simple as you like – and as fun as you can!

For more about theatre in the classroom visit http://www.dianarjenkins.bravehost.com.

And here are some readers theatre collections I wrote:

Just Deal With It! Funny Readers Theatre for Life’sNot-So-Funny Moments

     These humorous readers theatre scripts offer real-life settings and contemporary characters. Each play pokes gentle fun at annoying traits, school-based dilemmas, or the embarrassing moments that are part of growing up. With resolutions that emphasize creative solutions, humor, or cleverness, these plays work to improve language arts skills. (Grades 4 to 8)

All Year Long! Funny Readers Theatre forLife's Special Times

     This collection of humorous, contemporary plays is organized around special times of year such as holidays, the first day of school, a snow day, etc. Teachers can find an appropriate readers theatre script at almost any time with this valuable resource, and kids will have fun improving their language arts skills as they perform these plays. (Grades 6 to 8) 

Spotlight on Saints! A Year of Funny Readers Theater for Today’sCatholic Kids 

     Twelve humorous readers theater scripts engage and entertain students in fourth through eighth grades. The book includes a play for every month of the year. Each script features a contemporary kid in a real-life situation—and a saint who helps him or her solve the problem! (Grades 4 to 8)

6 Tips for Writing Kids' Plays

If you write for children, don't limit yourself to traditional fiction. Use your story-telling skills to create plays kids will love. Here are a few suggestions about how to do it:

1)     Be realistic. Your script probably won't be performed on Broadway or turned into a blockbuster movie. Avoid special effects, amazing stunts, or anything else that can't be accomplished by ordinary kids. Keep costumes, sets, and props to a minimum. Writing in the readers theatre format is one of the best ways to create a play that's simple to stage but exciting in content.

2)     Use an adjustable cast.  Of course, you want to follow publishers' guidelines about size of cast and number of female/male roles. But you can make your play adaptable to various situations by building in some casting flexibility. When possible, include group characters like "Other Students" or "Rest of Student Council." Use some unisex names for characters or double up on titles, such as "Aunt/Uncle" or "Mr./Ms." Adding a narrator provides a large  and handy gender neutral part.

3)     Spread the glory around. Not only is it difficult for one kid to carry most of a play, it's just no fun. All the actors want to have their moment – and their parents expect to see it. Instead of letting your main character do all the talking, distribute lines among a number of roles. If you use group characters (see #2), give them lines that allow for adlibs so everyone gets to say something. For example:
             Other Students: What? Are you kidding? I don't believe it! (Etc.)
           And most importantly, give secondary characters interesting personalities and some problems of their own – that makes them fun to play and entertaining to watch.

4)     Make sure your dialogue rings true. Some characters need to sound pompous, old-fashioned, affected, formal, or otherwise theatrical. Those parts are usually easy to write! Creating realistic dialogue for contemporary young characters can be much more challenging. Real kids don't speak lyrically, reciting over-their-heads vocabulary with perfect grammar. They use contractions and slang, start new sentences without finishing old ones, and interrupt each other. Listen to kids talk to get an idea of how to recreate their conversations, read your dialogue out loud with a critical ear, and polish, polish, polish. Nothing is more essential to a good play than well-written dialogue!  

5)     Step outside the box. Today's kids are used to media that breaks boundaries. They've experienced actors who speak directly to the camera, characters who "know" they're in a television program, and games that allow almost-real interaction. So don’t be afraid to experiment a little with your play! Let the narrator express personal opinions about what's happening onstage. Allow your main character to argue with the narrator. Place a heckler in the audience or bring an audience member on stage. This kind of creativity works especially well in humorous scripts, but it can also add emotional impact to serious plays.

6)     Tell a story. Despite its different format, a play is still a story – and you want to make it a good one! Create a relatable main character, give him/her a problem worth caring about, go through a complete story arc, end up with a good lesson that's not too heavy-handed, etc., etc., just as you would when writing a kids' story or book. This doesn't just apply to serious drama – funny plays need to be well-written, too! Skits constructed of nothing but jokes, gags, and one-liners can be fun, but they're not really satisfying to audiences, young performers, or the adults who work with kids. Make your script meaningful, as well as entertaining. That's the kind of play that gets published and performed!

Writing Plays for Kids

If you write for children, don't limit yourself to traditional fiction. Use your story-telling skills to create plays kids will love. For suggestions about how to do that, see my article "6 Tips on Writing Plays for Kids" on the Guide to Literary Agents Blog. For information about potential markets for your plays, check out the "Play Markets" tab on my website. Good luck, playwrights!

It's that time again!

It's time for school to start! Here's a book from Teacher Ideas Press that's a handy resource for teachers throughout the school year. (Yes, it's one of mine!) All Year Long! Funny Readers Theatre for Life's Special Times offers easy-to-use plays themed to different times of the year -- first day of school, Labor Day, Columbus Day, St. Valentine's Day, a snow day, etc., etc. Check out this video about the book. (It's the first one I've ever made using Movie Maker, a program that, unbeknowst to me until just recently, was lurking on my computer!)

Just Deal With It!

Here's a video about my first books of plays -- Just Deal With It! Funny Readers Theatre For Life's Not-So-Funny Moments. The book includes 19 funny plays about contemporary kids with real-life problems. My working title for the book was Not For Weak Stomachs, which conveyed the humor of the book but sounded just a little too...well...disgusting! Click here to view the video.

Easier Theatre

Easier Theatre
When you consider using theatre with your students, don’t think of it as THE-AH-TAH! You don’t have to stage huge productions of Shakespearean dramas with hand-made costumes, award-winning sets, and Oscar-worthy performances. You can keep things simple and your kids will still get the benefits of theatre. (See “Ten Reasons Why Using Theatre in Your Classroom Isn't as Nuts as You Think” on my website http://www.dianarjenkins.bravenet.com/.) Here are some suggestions for making the use of theatre easier:

Keep it to yourself.
There’s no rule that says you must perform in front of an audience – you can use theatre just as a classroom experience. You’ll find that simple theatre activities can be fun, rewarding, and educational!
A little bit of theatre makes a good filler at the end of a period, in the few minutes before lunch, or just before going home. You can have kids play charades – either what I call “Big Idea” charades or the traditional game. In “Big Idea” charades, kids act out a whole concept at once. For example, a kid could pretend to paint on an easel for “artist” or act out hitting a ball and running the bases to get across “Babe Ruth.” In traditional charades, kids act out individual words or even syllables and the audience must put all the pieces together. A student could do something like hold up fingers for “three” and pretend to be a beast for “Three Bears.” Both activities make kids think, build their confidence, and help them become more comfortable standing up in front of people.
You can also work theatre into your subject areas. In Social Studies, kids could act out famous events like the Boston Tea Party, the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, etc. In Science, ask a student to pretend to be Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, or another scientist and explain his or her discoveries. In English, have students ad lib new endings to stories or write short skits based on something they’ve read. These are valuable activities even if nobody in the outside world ever sees your kids perform.

Use readers theatre.
See “Readers Theatre -- The Shortcut to Dramatic Success” also on this blog.

Make it up as you go.
Maybe you want to have your students perform plays (in your classroom or for the outside world), but it just seems too complicated, time-consuming, etc. Readers theatre can help. (See above.) Or you might find it helpful to use the make-it-up-as-you-go method.
Choose a story familiar to your students. A folk tale or fairy tale works well, but you can use any story. Quickly assign parts, and then ask the kids to tell you how the story starts. Send the appropriate actors to the front of the room and have them act out the first scene. Then ask the kids about what happens next, add or remove actors as needed, and move on to the next scene. Continue on until the whole story has been acted out. You may need to ask leading questions or even model roles until kids get the idea.
After they’ve experienced this process a number of times over weeks or months (same story with different casts or different stories), your students will be able to put together some surprisingly well-developed scenes. And you might feel like you want to try performing something for an audience. If so, finalize your cast and let them rehearse enough that they’ve pretty well established what they’re going to say and do.
Maybe you’re thinking that a putting on a performance without a script is like doing a trapeze act without a net. There is a certain level of anxiety with the make-it-up-as-you-go method, but it has a lot of pluses, too. For one thing, kids have a real understanding of plot, motivation, and other aspects of the story, so they often give better performances than they would with a memorized play. And since they made the play up themselves, they’re not as likely to forget something important. Even if something does go amiss, it’s easy for other actors to adjust and fix the problem since they understand what should be happening, what the characters are feeling, etc.

Put together a Poetry Extravaganza!
A Poetry Extravaganza makes a great public performance, but it’s really easy to do -- especially if you use poetry throughout the year anyway! It also has the benefit of practically eliminating your worries about performance day absences. Here’s how to do it:
Expose your students to poetry regularly – even for just a few minutes here and there. Read poems to them, put poems on your bulletin board, pass out poems, and have students read and reread the poems in your reading or literature book. Whenever my students came to a poem, we read it several times and went back to previous poems in the book, too. Sometimes we took turns on verses or did choral reading. And now and then I tried to fit in poems in the last few minutes of class. Eventually, the kids began to become familiar with particular poems and we’d play around at reciting a few lines by heart. Some would even attempt to memorize whole poems.
Eventually, I’d suggest we put some poems together in a program. Kids would select poems they liked, either ones we’d already had in class or completely new poems. (I steered the students who had difficulties to the familiar poems and more capable students to something new.) We’d practice standing up in front of the room and reciting the poems. If a student wanted to do his poem by memory, he could. If not, then we put the poem on a cool-looking scroll, inside an appropriate book, or on a prop. Sometimes kids would come up with costumes that fit their poems, and sometimes other kids would appear on stage, too, acting out the poem. When everybody was pretty comfortable, we invited an audience to see our Poetry Extravaganza. If someone was absent…oh, well! We just skipped their poem! Missing background performers were easily replaced or eliminated.

Relax – right now!
Theater with kids can be nerve-wracking if you try to control things too much. Sure, you don’t want them running wild, but you need to accept that theater just isn’t as organized, calm, and rigid as some other activities. You can gently guide kids to be better performers (See “Is That a Woodpecker on Your Shoulder? Or How to Get Good Performances Out of Young Actors” also on this blog), but don’t squelch all their creativity trying to achieve perfection. Take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy!

Getting Good Performances Out of Young Actors

Is That a Woodpecker on Your Shoulder?
Or How to Get Good Performances Out of Young Actors

Some kids are natural-born actors. They speak naturally. They display natural facial expressions. They communicate natural emotions, and they portray natural characters. Naturally, kids with that kind of talent are few and far between.
Many kids need help to move beyond robotic recitation of their lines to realistic portrayals of their characters. Some young actors will never be Oscar material. (Hey, that’s part of what makes kids’ performances so cute.) However, you can work with most kids and at least get them from wooden to something not-so-wooden. Here are some tips for how to do that:

Don’t give up the script too soon.
If you’re performing readers theatre, you never have to give up the script. (See “Readers Theatre – The Shortcut to Dramatic Success.”) But if you’re doing conventional theatre, allow students to keep their scripts a while. If you push kids to memorize everything early on, they focus on getting the lines down instead of getting the lines to express something. Letting kids rely on their scripts and concentrating your rehearsals on developing good performances pays off in the end.

Motivate actors to think about motivation.
Some young actors think that just saying their lines is “acting.” They need your help to understand that their characters have feelings – and “acting” means showing those feelings to the audience. Asking leading questions is one of the best ways to get kids to consider what’s behind their characters’ words. Try questions like: “How do you think he’s feeling?” “What does she mean?” “Is he telling the truth?” “What’s she hoping for?”
Once an actor can articulate what his character is feeling, encourage him to show those feelings. A simple, “play-like” direction is usually effective and less threatening than pressure to “Act! Act!” Just say something like, “Play like you’re mad, too.” Or “Play like you’re lying.”

Echo read…read…read….
If you still can’t get good expression out of an actor, try echo reading. Sit down with the kid and tell him he’s your echo. Then say one of his lines the way you’d like for him to perform it and ask him to copy you exactly. Likely, he will repeat the line in the same robotic way as usual, but don’t be discouraged. Remind him that he’s to do the line exactly as you do it, and try again – and again if necessary. Once he improves on that line, continue the process with his next lines. Once an actor gets the idea, he can usually carry on by himself with just an occasional echo read for difficult lines.

Prepare for interruptions.
One of the most awkward and unnatural parts in a play is the poor interruption. It goes something like this:

Francine: I can’t help it! I didn’t even know about.
Jacob: (after an embarrassing pause) Don’t make excuses, Francine! I was there when you.
Francine: (after another embarrassing pause) Shut up already! You’re always on my.

If your play includes an interruption, have the involved actor write out what she thinks the character intends to say. Then when she performs the line, she can continue on until the next actor actually interrupts her or until the end of the line if he doesn’t.

Hold off on the extras.
Kids love costumes, props, set pieces, and the like, but they love them too much. Once a young actor has a towel turban or a bejeweled throne or even one little magic rock, he’s likely to be distracted from creating a quality performance. Hey, who needs good expression when you’re wearing a pig snout? Let your actors mime the extras until their performances are in pretty good shape. Then you can work in the other stuff without detracting from the acting. Saving the extras also has the added benefit of pepping things up if repeated rehearsals are getting old.

Perform for a fake audience.
Arrange for somebody to “drop by” during a rehearsal. Or do a dress rehearsal with a non-threatening audience like a group of little kids. Getting a taste of performing before an audience can energize lackluster actors. It finally clicks with them that they’ll be doing their thing in front of “real” people. And audience reactions during a play bring things into focus for the actors, making it clear what’s funny or surprising or scary. Audience comments afterwards can clarify what’s working or not working in a production – especially if you forewarn your fake audience to watch out for something in particular.

Accentuate the positive.
Performing is fun and exciting, but it’s also scary for kids. Negative comments and demands for perfection only make things scarier, but it’s easy to forget that under the stress of putting together a show. Just remember: you’ll get a better performance from young actors in a positive atmosphere where they feel comfortable. So praise anything you can, point out every little bit of progress you see, and relax. Your young actors will charm the socks off their audience!

Visit my website: http://www.dianarjenkins.bravehost.com/.