Readers’ Theater Poetry Collections by T. P.

Jagger

The Silly Poems Collection

Another Silly Poems Collection

The T-rex from My Cereal: A Silly Poems Collection

Cupid Shot My Teacher: A Valentine’s Day Silly Poems Collection

The Octopus on My Head: A Springtime Silly Poems Collection

School’s Almost Out: A Summertime Silly Poems Collection

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Rag: Onset & Rime Phonics Poetry

Other Readers’ Theater by T. P. Jagger

Boomer the Bulldozing Reindeer

Fractured Fairy Tales ~ The Christmas Collection

Fractured Fairy Tales ~ Series I & Series II ~ Bonus Bundles

How to ALMOST Catch a Leprechaun

How to Teach an Old Dragon New Tricks

Mangled Myths Series (6-script Greek Mythology Bonus Bundle)

Mother Goose Interrupted (8-script collection)

Mr. Loony Collection: Back to School with Mr. Loony

Mr. Loony Collection: Groundhog Day with Mr. Loony

Mr. Loony Collection: Thanksgiving with Mr. Loony

Mumford’s Mummy Problem

Snori & the Giant

The Snowball of Petey McCrunch

The Tall & Twisted Tales Series (4-script Tall Tales Bonus Bundle)

’Twas the Night before Earth Day

Copyright © T. P. Jagger
 Readers’ Theater Basics
Readers’ theater focuses on developing students’ reading fluency, which has four
essential components—accuracy, rate, phrasing, and expression. I call this “ARPE” for
short. Of course, that’s mainly because it’s a lot more fun to say, “We’re gonna rock
the ARPE!” than it is to say, “Class, today we’re going to work on our accuracy,
reading rate, phrasing, and expression.”

As students practice (and then perform!) their readers’ theater scripts, here’s what I
encourage them to work toward:

ACCURACY: Say all of the words correctly as you read.

RATE: Don’t read too quickly or too slowly.

PHRASING: Avoid “choppy” reading and pay attention to punctuation.

EXPRESSION: Let your voice show the character or narrator’s personality and
emotions.

Anyway, part of the beauty of readers’ theater is that it requires no memorization or

acting by the students—the “acting” simply comes through the expressive reading of
their scripts. Likewise, no costumes, props, or sets are needed to perform readers’
theater (although students may elect to add some of those elements for fun).

Two elements within the script are specifically designed to guide students’ expression.

1. Bracketed prompts such as [proudly] and [happily] are used to give readers clues
about the underlying attitudes of characters.

2. Italics are frequently used to show words readers should emphasize.

Students can be taught to use both of these features of the script to improve their
performances.

If you’d like to see an example of readers’ theater in action, click the link below to view a
2-reader performance of “Mother Goose Interrupted: Little Miss Muffet”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhYlW73vad8

© T. P. Jagger ~ page 1
 King Midas
& the Golden Touch
(A Greek Myth)
Watch-out Words!
• admirer • buffet • peasants • plea • poultry
• resumed • revelry • satyr • stingy

Pronunciation Guide to Really Weird Greek Names

Dionysus (die-uh-NIE-sus) Midas (MY-duss) Pactolus (pack-TOE-lus)
satyr (SAY-der) Silenus (sigh-LEE-nus)
Timolus (TIM-oh-lus)

Reading Roles:
Narrator 1** *For the sound effects (marked: ALL*), you may choose to use
Narrator 2** cue cards to add audience participation.
Narrator 3**
**NARRATORS may be combined, as needed, depending on the
Narrator 4**
size of the group.
Dionysus
King Midas ***If needed, a single person can play both the PEASANT and
Silenus the SERVANT since those roles are limited and appear in
Peasant*** different parts of the script.
Servant***

ALL: [announcing] The Myth of King Midas and the Golden Touch.

NARRATOR 1: Way back in the days of Greek gods and goddesses, the god
Dionysus was traveling to Mount Timolus with a group of his
followers.

NARRATOR 2: One of those followers was Dionysus’s old teacher, this guy
named Silenus.

NARRATOR 3: Actually, calling Silenus a “guy” is kind of misleading. He was a

satyr—basically half-goat, half-man.

NARRATOR 4: So anyway, Silenus—this goat-legged guy with horns—got lost.

SILENUS: [confused] Where am I? . . . Where’d everybody go?

© T. P. Jagger ~ page 2
NARRATOR 1: Fortunately for Silenus, it wasn’t too long before he bumped into
a group of peasants.

PEASANT: Hey, I never met a satyr ’round these parts before. . . . You lost?

SILENUS: [snobbish] Of course I am. If I wasn’t lost, do you think I’d stop
and talk to a bunch of peasants?

PEASANT: [thinking—slow & clueless] Hmmm. . . . That a trick question?

SILENUS: [sighing] Never mind. Just tell me where the nearest palace is.

PEASANT: Oh, that’s easy. . . . That way.

NARRATOR 2: The peasant turned and pointed. Silenus could just see the top of
a peaked, white-marble roof peeping over the crest of a nearby
hill.

PEASANT: [kindly] We’re headed that way. We’ll take you to the king.

NARRATOR 3: And even though your mom or dad or somebody has probably
warned you to NEVER wander off with strangers, Silenus did it
anyway.

NARRATOR 4: Fortunately for Silenus, the peasants weren’t thieves . . .

NARRATOR 1: Or tricksters . . .

NARRATOR 2: Or bullies who would tape a “CALL ME GOAT BOY” sign on the
back of a lost satyr.

NARRATOR 3: They simply did what they said they would and took Silenus
straight to King Midas, who happened to be a major admirer of
the god Dionysus.

KING MIDAS: [excited] Hey, I recognize you! Dionysus’s teacher, right?

SILENUS: [proudly] As a matter of fact—

KING MIDAS: [interrupting] I am a big fan. Biiiig fan.

SILENUS: Well, thank you, your majesty. I’m lost, so I was hoping that—

KING MIDAS: [interrupting excitedly] LET’S PARTYYYYY!!!

NARRATOR 4: And King Midas—who always loved an excuse for a bit of

revelry—threw a ten-day feast in Silenus’s honor.

© T. P. Jagger ~ page 3
NARRATOR 1: A ten-day feast is actually pretty exhausting if you stop to think
about it, but anyway, it finally ended. Then . . .

SILENUS: I was wondering—do you suppose you could help me find

Dionysus?

KING MIDAS: Of course! Why didn’t you say something sooner?

SILENUS: Well, I tried, but whenever I started talking, you—

KING MIDAS: [interrupting] LET’S ROLL!

NARRATOR 2: So King Midas headed out with Silenus and helped him catch up
with Dionysus, who was still on his way to Mount Timolus.

DIONYSUS: [happily] Silenus, you old goat! You made it back! Where have
you been?

SILENUS: Well, first I got lost, then there were these peasants who—

DIONYSUS: [interrupting, curious] And who is this?

NARRATOR 3: Dionysus studied King Midas.

KING MIDAS: I’m your biggest fan, your Greek godliness. Your biggest fan.

DIONYSUS: [cocky] Don’t worry—I get that a lot. Anyway, other than my
totally amazing greatness, what brings you here?

KING MIDAS: Your teacher was lost and ended up at my palace so we partied
for a day and then for another day and then for another day and
then for like another week after that and then he finally
mentioned he wanted to find you and now—poof!—here we are.

DIONYSUS: Well, thanks for bringing him back. And tell you what—I don’t
want folks thinking I’m stingy. As a token of my appreciation, I’ll
give you one wish. One. Anything you want. You name it, it’s
yours.

NARRATOR 4: King Midas had never had a wish from the gods before, and he
didn’t want to waste it on something like a new crown or a bigger
palace or an all-you-can-eat lamb stew buffet.

NARRATOR 1: He stroked his beard and thought for a few minutes.

ALL NARRATORS: And then . . .

KING MIDAS: [excitedly] I’ve got it!

© T. P. Jagger ~ page 4
DIONYSUS: Wonderful! What’ll it be?

KING MIDAS: I want everything I touch to turn into gold.

DIONYSUS: [doubtful] Everything? . . . Are you sure that’s a good idea?

KING MIDAS: [confidently] Everything. Absolutely everything. For sure.

Everything.

SILENUS: But what if—

KING MIDAS: [interrupting, excited] One hundred percent golden touch, baby!

ALL NARRATORS: So . . .

ALL*: [sound effect] POOF!

DIONYSUS: [declaring] Done.

KING MIDAS: [hopeful] That’s it? I’ve got the golden touch?

DIONYSUS: Yep. Try it out.

NARRATOR 2: So King Midas did.

NARRATOR 3: He snapped a twig off a tree.

ALL*: [sound effect] DING!

NARRATOR 4: Little golden stick.

NARRATOR 1: He picked up a rock.

ALL*: [sound effect] DING!

NARRATOR 2: Instant gold nugget.

ALL*: [sound effect] DING! . . . DING! . . . DING!

NARRATOR 3: While Dionysus and the rest of his followers resumed their
journey to Mount Timolus, King Midas skipped toward home,
turning things to gold along the way.

NARRATOR 4: But then . . . King Midas got home.

ALL NARRATORS: And everything started to go wrong.

KING MIDAS: [commanding] I’m starving. Bring me something to eat.

© T. P. Jagger ~ page 5
SERVANT: Yes, your majesty. Right away.

NARRATOR 1: The scent of roasted chicken and fresh-baked bread filled the
room as the king’s servant soon returned with a platter piled high
with fruits and meats and cheeses and all sorts of delicious food.

SERVANT: [announcing politely] A meal for you, your highness.

NARRATOR 2: Of course, you probably already realize where this story’s

headed, but King Midas had no clue. He grabbed a steaming
slice of fresh bread and took a huge bite.

ALL*: [sound effect] DING! CRACK!

KING MIDAS: [in pain] OWWW!

NARRATOR 3: King Midas’s teeth clanged against his slice of solid-gold toast.

NARRATOR 4: He flung the used-to-be bread across the room and reached for a
bunch of grapes.

ALL*: [sound effect] DING!

KING MIDAS: [angry & disbelieving] Are you serious!?!?

SERVANT: [doubtfully] Maybe you should try it with no hands? . . .

NARRATOR 1: King Midas tucked his hands behind his back and leaned over
the platter.

NARRATOR 2: He smiled as the spicy fragrance of roasted chicken filled his

nostrils. He licked his lips . . . opened his mouth . . . and . . .

ALL*: [sound effect] DING!

NARRATOR 3: Golden poultry.

NARRATOR 4: He tried to take a drink.

ALL*: [sound effect] DING!

NARRATOR 1: Liquid gold choked his throat.

KING MIDAS: [panicking] I’m gonna starve!

SERVANT: Do you think Dionysus offers refunds? . . .

KING MIDAS: [crying, begging] Dionysus! If you can hear me, please, please,
PLEASE take away my golden touch!

© T. P. Jagger ~ page 6
NARRATOR 2: Luckily for King Midas, Dionysus had exceptionally good ears
and heard the plea of the gold-crazy king.

DIONYSUS: Ah . . . you mortals. Never can make up your minds, can you?
. . . Here’s the deal—head over to the river Pactolus and take a
bath. That should do the trick.

KING MIDAS: [relieved] Oh, thank you, your Greek Godly Greatness!

NARRATOR 3: King Midas rushed to the river Pactolus and waded into the
water. The river flowed around him.

ALL*: [sound effect] Zooooop.

NARRATOR 4: Gold streamed from Midas’s fingers, his hands, his round kingly
stomach.

NARRATOR 1: As King Midas splashed and scrubbed, scrubbed and splashed,

the river’s current carried away every last drop of his golden
touch.

NARRATOR 2: By the time he was done bathing, the river Pactolus was
destined to become famous for all of the gold that would be
found in its sands, but King Midas didn’t care—he was sick of
gold.

NARRATOR 3: Of course, he was a king. And kings have lots of gold even when
they don’t have the golden touch.

NARRATOR 4: So Midas took a break from being a king and wandered off into
the woods instead. In the forest, he worshipped the Greek god of
the wilderness, Pan, who happened to look a whole bunch like a
satyr.

ALL: But that’s a whole other story. . . .

Visit www.tpjagger.com for more

FREE readers’ theater scripts and resources.

© T. P. Jagger ~ page 7
 THANK YOU!!!
I would LOVE to receive your
feedback! Ratings and reviews help me
to continue to improve my resources.
Just go to MY PURCHASES and click
“LEAVE A REVIEW” by this product.
CHECK OUT THE COMPLETE

GREEK MYTHOLOGY BUNDLE

WHICH INCLUDES SIX SCRIPTS, EXTENSION
ACTIVITIES, PLUS A 32-PAGE PACKET OF BUNDLE-
EXCLUSIVE BONUS RESOURCES!

*Amazon Editor’s Pick – “Best Books for Ages 9-12”

*ABA Indies Introduce List – Top 10 Children’s Debut
*ABA Kids’ Indie Next List

This humorous Greek myth retelling is from the 37-page

“King Midas” Literacy Toolkit

which includes TWO scripts, sound-effect cue cards, vocabulary
word work, a compare & contrast activity, and other resources.