A Midsummer Night's Dream Reader's Theater Script for High School | Shakespeare

Teach A Midsummer Night’s Dream with an adapted reader's theater script that helps high school students follow Shakespeare’s plot, characters, and comedy through performance.

This classroom-ready version keeps key Shakespeare language while making the play more accessible for discussion, fluency work, and literature study.

Script Summary:

Hermia rejects her father’s command to marry Demetrius, fleeing Athens with Lysander. Helena, in love with Demetrius, reveals their escape, hoping to win his gratitude. Demetrius follows them, pursued by a desperate Helena. In the forest, Fairy King Oberon and Queen Titania feud over a changeling boy. Oberon instructs Puck to use a magic flower’s juice to make Demetrius love Helena, but Puck mistakenly anoints Lysander. Both men chase Helena, angering Hermia. Titania, enchanted by Oberon, falls in love with Bottom, an overconfident weaver transformed to have a donkey’s head. The tradesmen rehearse a play, adding comedic confusion. At last, Oberon relents, releasing Titania and restoring the proper couples: Hermia with Lysander, Helena with Demetrius. They all return to Athens, where the mechanicals perform a hilariously flawed “Pyramus and Thisbe.” Fairies bless the palace, and Puck closes the play, asking the audience’s pardon if they were offended, reminding them it was all like a dream.

This product includes a zip file consisting of:

1) Readers Theater Script

• ~17 Characters, 3600 words in editable DOCX & PDF Formats (13 pages)
• Following the structure of Shakespeare's original acts and scenes
• Includes direct quotes throughout the script from Shakespeare
• Themes & Discussion Question Prompts
• A student introduction that gives contextual background information about the play

2) Comprehensive Script Worksheet

• Includes Student Copy and Answer Key in PDF & Google Slides Formats (4 Pages | 22 Slides)
• 10 Vocabulary Words: Definitions based on the context of the script to build historical literacy
• 10 Short-Answer Questions: Comprehension and recall questions based solely on the script, ensuring students can analyze the content without requiring additional research.
• 4 Original Language & Today’s English
• 3 Question focusing on Shakespeare's Original vs Adapted Text & Analysis

3) The Full Original Shakespeare Text of the Play

• Full Text, DOCX Format (58 pages)
• NOTE: For the last 3 questions, teachers may want to print only the sections of each scene required for students to analyze to save paper ;)

Teaching Tips for Using the Script:

• For digital classrooms, upload the DOCX Script and convert to Google docs
• Use the Google Slides version of the worksheet
• For More Students: Main character can be read by multiple students.
• For Less Students: Minor characters can be read by just one student.
• This script should take about ~50 minutes and depending on your classroom's level it may be suitable for other grade levels.
• An extra ~50 minutes for prep, discussion, vocabulary or short answer comprehension questions should also be planned.

Try one before you buy one: