An Example of Script Formatting

This is an example of a tried and true format for Readers Theatre scripts.

Some features of note: * The left margin is wider so you can hole-punch and place the script in a 3-ring binder. * Character designations are clearly indicated, and stand out from the body of the text. Use a "hanging indent" to achieve this.

* Spacing is single for each character's lines, double-spaced between lines. * A dash (--) not a colon (:) is used to draw the eye from the character designation to the spoken text. * No character's lines are continued on a following page, forcing the reader to flip the page in the middle of a thought or sentence.

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THE BEGINNING OF THE ARMADILLOS by RUDYARD KIPLING

1--NARRATOR, MOTHER JAGUAR 2--STICKLY-PRICKLY HEDGEHOG          3--SLOW-AND-SOLID TORTOISE 4--PAINTED JAGUAR

This is scripted for four readers and the heading indicates the characters that the numbered readers are presenting.

hanging indent

|----text----|
|-reader--|

1--This, O Best Beloved, is another story of the High and Far-Off Times.  
   In the very middle of these times was:
 
2--A Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog, and he lived on the banks of the turbid 
   Amazon,eating shelly snails and things.
 
1--And he had a friend:
 
3--A Slow-and-Solid Tortoise, who lived on the banks of the turbid 
   Amazon,eating green lettuce and things.
 
1--And so that was all right, Best Beloved.  Do you see?  But also, and 
   at the same time, in those High and Far-Off Times, there was:
 
4--A Painted Jaguar, and he lived on the banks of the turbid Amazon too; 
   and he ate everything he could catch.  When he could not catch deer 
   or monkeys, he would eat frogs and beetles.  And when he could not 
   catch frog and beetles, 
 
1--he went to his Mother Jaguar, and she told him how to eat hedgehogs 
   and tortoises.  She said to him ever so many times, graciously wav-
   ing her tail, 'My son, when you find a hedgehog, you must drop him 
   into the water and then he will uncoil; and when you catch a tortoise, 
   you must scoop him out of his shell with your paws.'  And so, that 
   was all right,Best Beloved. One beautiful night on the banks of the 
   turbid Amazon

 

-- 1--

Indicating the title and what page of the total number for that script will help   you keep you place and will be a real boon in future filing and duplicating.

ARMADILLOS; PAGE 2 OF 7

4--Painted Jaguar found Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog and Slow-and-Solid 
   Tortoise sitting under the trunk of a fallen tree.  They could not 
   run away, so:
 
2--Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog curled himself into a ball, because he was 
   a hedgehog.
 
3--And Slow-and-Solid Tortoise drew in his head and feet into his shell 
   as far as they could go, because he was a tortoise.
 
1--And so that was all right, Best Beloved.  Do you see?
 
4--Now attend to me, because this is very important.  My mother said 
   that when I meet a hedgehog I am to drop him into the water and he 
   will uncoil, and when I meet a tortoise I am to scoop him out of his 
   shell with my paw.  Now which one of you is hedgehog and which 
   tortoise?  Because, to save my spots, I can't tell.
 
2--Are you sure of what your Mummy told you?  Are you quite sure?  
   Perhaps she said that when you uncoil a tortoise you must shell him 
   out of the water with a scoop, and when you paw a hedgehog, you must 
   drop him on the shell.
 
3--Are you sure of what your Mummy told you?  Are you quite sure?  
   Perhaps she said that when you water a hedgehog you must drop him 
   into you paw, and when you meet a tortoise you must shell him till 
   he uncoils
 
4--I don't think it was at all like that--
 
1--said Painted Jaguar, but he felt a little puzzled--
 
4--Please, say it again more distinctly.
 
2--When you scoop water with your paw, you uncoil it with a hedgehog.  
   Remember that, because it's important.
 
3--But when you paw your meat, you drop it into a tortoise with a scoop.  
   Why can't you understand?
 
4--You are making my spots ache, and besides, I didn't want your advice 
   at all.  I only wanted to know which of you is hedgehog and which is 
   tortoise.
 
2--I shan't tell you, but you can scoop me out of my shell if you like.

4--Aha!  Now I know you're tortoise.  You thought I wouldn't!  Now I 
   will!
 

Instead of spreading one reader's spoken text across
two pages, it is preferable to begin the entire line on the next page.

This spares the reader a clumsy page flip and the embarrassment
of an ill-timed pause (but not, unfortunately, the
heartbreak of psoriasis).

NEXT: " 1--Painted Jaguar darted out his paddy-paw .."

--2--

 
 ARMADILLOS; PAGE 3 OF 7    

1--Painted Jaguar darted out his paddy-paw just as Stickly-Prickly 
   curled himself up, and of course Jaguar's paddy-paw was just filled 
   with prickles. Worse than that, he knocked Stickly-Prickly away and 
   away into the woods and bushes, where it was too dark to find him.  
   Then he put his paddy-paw into his mouth, and of course the prickles 
   hurt him worse than ever.