Bringing a Famous Novel from Page to Stage: RWU Education Students Lead Readers’ Theater

BRISTOL, R.I. – Since launching in 2020, Roger Williams University has become increasingly more involved with Bristol BookFest, growing it into a real-world learning opportunity for students to develop and lead community programs within the festival.

While the festival takes place over several months, as the community reads and engages with a selected novel, there are several major events that culminate in a weekend of lectures, discussions, and community engagement on April 4 and 5, this year. Renee Soto, RWU Associate Professor of Creative Writing who serves as one of the event organizers and is a BookFest Committee co-chair, said she has seen the most student involvement this year, particularly with the Readers’ Theater, which took place on Saturday, March 22.

A Readers’ Theater is a dramatic reading where participants bring a written text to life. This year, that text was the book Fahrenheit 451. Education students, in conjunction with Rogers Free Library, worked tirelessly on every aspect of this production, from writing the script to creating costumes and organizing volunteers. Darby Wilson is one of the students who planned and participated in the production.

“It was a really good hands-on experience leading a group,” said Wilson, a junior English Literary Studies and Secondary Education major from Newton Center, Mass. “The practical experience that we’ve all had up until now has been in classrooms, and this was a really cool way to learn more about what it’s like to teach not just children.”

“Experience is the foundation of learning,” said Susan Pasquarelli, RWU Professor of Literacy and English Education, who guided the Education students on this community project. “The bottom line is, whether students are six or 16, they will always learn more by doing.”

Now in its fifth year, BookFest is celebrating Fahrenheit 451, a book theme that seemed to hit home for many of the community involved in Saturday’s production.

“I’m a school librarian, so Fahrenheit 451 really resonates with me,” said Vanessa Dyer, a community actor who participated in Readers’ Theater. 

Another community actor, Gary Howarth, a scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, called the topic timely: “We’re seeing many books being banned and so it’s not a far cry from the idea of maybe books being burned.”  

Following the Readers’ Theater production, the RWU students led a banned book march. They held posters of various banned books and read quotes from them to pay homage to the end of Fahrenheit 451.

Students worked on other aspects of the festival as well. Those who worked on the Readers’ Theater also worked on a Found Poetry session, where poems are created from rearranging existing texts like newspaper articles, speeches, or even street signs. Soto noted students involved with the university’s tech crew are donating time and equipment throughout the festival this year. And in past years, she said she has seen FIT interns dedicate time to social media and graphic design for the festival, though none participated this year.