I have been thinking about how students can "perform" literature a lot lately. In part this is the result of my own experiences creating a book cast, In part it is due to my preparations for my summer job, which involves doing lots of drama and creative writing with young people. And of course I am also preparing to discuss the topic during our first real-time class meeting.
My initial response is to say I love the idea of performing literature! As a kid, I loved doing skits, and I seized any opportunity to get up in front of the class and read, recite, or act. Creating a book cast was a little daunting, but I liked doing it, and I think I did a good job identifying the themes of the book and relating them to my own life. I can definitely see high school students reacting positively to book casting and other "performance" activities. Even something as simple as acting out a scene from a book could be a lot of fun and really get students engaged with the material.
On the other hand, not every student enjoys being the center of attention. And even students who *do* enjoy performing might end up focusing on the performance rather than the literature that inspired it.
Book casting offers a way to "perform" without being a "performer", but I'm not sure that it solves the second problem. For instance, a student could easily read Please Ignore Vera Dietz and create a book cast (or a skit or a speech or a website) about teen drinking or parental abuse. And while those issues are central to the story, I think a performance that focuses solely on either (or even both) of them ignores the nuances of the novel.
So, I think the first challenge for using literary performance in a classroom is to think about what the goal of the performance is. Do I want students to reflect on a text and connect it with their own experiences? Do I want them to demonstrate their understanding how two pieces of writing relate to one another? Do I want them to explore the language of the piece or the narrative voice or the time period or the characters? Each of these goals results in a different kind of performance. But if I don't have a clear idea of what I want my students to do, they will be all over the map (and probably frustrated, too!)
Incidentally, in addition to book casting, I also think there are other ways for shy students to perform comfortably. For instance, if students select their favorite passage from a novel and read it into a Voicethread, they do not have to speak in front of the class. If students create masks and then wear the mask while giving a little speech as the character they are portraying, they have something to "hide" behind. But no matter what method I use, I need to let my students know what the purpose of the performance is, so that they can connect the activity with the text substantively.
