Submitted by Linda, Kentucky
Idea posted November 9, 2004
Here is something that worked well with me when helping my own students to memorize their parts. I had the students read the script simultaneously with the recorded performance of the play. We first read along silently, then later choral read aloud as the performance was being played on the stereo. We repeated this daily until students were comfortable enough with their own parts to go it alone.
This saved my voice, helped with their timing, and also gave them confidence when performing, as they knew their parts so well. Also, if I ever changed the script, I just recorded my own performance of the dialogue, and we would rehearse with that recording instead of the original.