Skip to main content
Reader’s Theater turns decodable practice into a collaborative reading experience. Students take on different character parts, read aloud as a group, and re-read together — combining the benefits of repeated reading with the engagement of performance.

​
Why Reader’s Theater Works

​
Generating a Script

1

Pick your phonics skill

Same mechanism as Fiction and Non-fiction — the generator opens on a standard default skill for your program, so double-check your selection. Choose any skill in your sequence.
2

Choose number of characters

Pick 3, 4, or 5 characters from the dropdown. Match this to your small-group size.
3

Generate the script

LitLab returns a script with dialogue and narration, all decodable up to your selected skill.
Screenshot 2026 08 10 At 7 39 32 PM
Scripts are text-only. LitLab doesn’t generate illustrations for Reader’s Theater.

​
Running Reader’s Theater in the Classroom

1

Day 1: Assign roles & cold read

Pass out scripts and have students read through their lines once with no rehearsal. Have students highlight their lines.
2

Day 2–3: Rehearse

Re-read in small groups. Coach prosody and pacing.
3

Day 4: Perform

Present to the class, a buddy class, or via recording.
Screenshot 2026 08 10 At 7 41 04 PM
Reader’s Theater scripts print as a “Read and Draw” Google Doc, the same as Non-fiction texts. There’s no per-role print option yet, so each group works from the same copy of the full script.