Nightmare on Elm Street 1 Reader's Theatre Script -Questions -Rubrics

Donald Thompson

How is Nancy doing?

Marge Thompson

I don’t think she has slept since Tina died. She has always been a delicate kid.

Donald Thompson

She’s tougher than you think. Any idea how she knew Rod was going to die?

Marge Thompson

No. All I know is this reminds me too much of ten years ago.

Nancy Thompson

The killer is still loose, you know.

Donald Thompson

Who did it?

Nancy Thompson

I don’t know who he is, but he’s burned, he wears a weird brown hat, a red and green sweater, he’s really dirty, and he uses some sort of knives he’s got made into a sort of…glove. Like giant fingernails.

Included in the Nightmare on Elm Street Reader's Theatre Unit:

69 page script divided among 7 chapters

Chapter One: Coincidental Nightmares

13 pages with 7 characters + the narrator

Chapter Two: Wrongful Accusation

10 pages with 8 characters + the narrator

Chapter Three: Don't Go to Sleep

10 pages with 6 characters + the narrator

Chapter Four: Mob Justice

13 pages with 4 characters + the narrator

Chapter Five: Nancy's Plan

13 pages with 7 characters + the narrator

Chapter Six: Elm Street Showdown

6 pages with 5 characters + the narrator

Chapter Seven: Fred is Dead

3 pages with 5 characters + the narrator

4 major characters + the narrator

10 supporting characters

55 Analytical Questions

Student Reader's Theatre Evaluations based on 4 levels and 5 criteria.

Student Success Criteria

Student Friendly Goals

Reader's Theatre Checklist

Don't forget to download the Nightmare on Elm Street Visual Aid, to be displayed as the story is read.

A Nightmare on Elm Street synopsis:

A group of teenagers named, Tina, Nancy, Rod and Glen, fall prey to Freddy Krueger, a disfigured man who preys on the teenagers in their dreams. After investigating the phenomenon, Nancy begins to suspect that a dark secret kept by her and her friends' parents may be the key to unraveling the mystery, but can Nancy and her boyfriend Glen solve the puzzle before they are the next victims?

Mr. Marvel's Musings:

-I enjoy Nancy's character since she is a brave and intelligent women.

-I tried to adapt this story to be more like a Goosebumps novel. If you are familiar with the source material, you will realize some bloody parts are missing, but they are not essential in this format.

-Freddy does not have a lot of dialogue or quips in part one as he does in the sequels. He's played serious for the most part. If this adaptation receives positive reviews, then I will adapt the sequels, so that you and your readers can have fun quoting goofy Freddy dialogue. In this story, he laughs a lot and has short sentences of dialogue.

-In chapter one, Freddy lunges at Tina, but she is woken up in time and only sees slash marks on her nightgown.

-Tina gets slashed by Freddy in another dream. She feels the "cold steel" when he catches up to her and lunges. No other description is given. Her boyfriend later finds her, but he does not describe what he sees.

-The two couples in this story (Nancy & Glen and Tina & Rod) do not sleep in the same bed, or even hug or kiss one another. Glen does say "I love you" to Nancy after she tells him about her plan to defeat Freddy.

-There is no profanity in this adaptation.

-When Rod is asleep, Nancy watches as Freddy grabs Rod's sheet. Later, it is found out that Rod was strangled with the sheet.

-When Nancy has a dream, she sees and hears Tina in a body bag talking to her.

-When Marge Thompson tells Nancy about Freddy, she said she and the other parents poured gasoline around him and burned him. Freddy ran out of the fire and the police were too scared to shoot him, so Marge took her husband Donald's police revolver and shot Freddy.

-Glen falls asleep while listening to music on his bed. Freddy pulls Glen into his mattress. No further details are provided. Later, the police arrive and they report that Glen is under his bed.

-When Freddy is on fire, he jumps on Marge as she is sleeping. She is burned.

-Marge drinks gin when she realizes that her daughter Nancy is seeing Freddy in her nightmares.

-Some characters are pushed out of the way.

Do not fear the reader's theater format. Students love these adapted stories because they are listening to the story and they are a part of the story by playing a character within the story.

Reader's theatre inspires reluctant readers to join in the fun. The strongest and most advanced readers in your class will encourage other students to raise their hand and participate in the story. I also use reader's theatre to add to my drama marks.

If the reader's theatre format did not work for my students and I, then I would have stopped creating and adapting them years ago.

Reluctant readers sometimes feel anxious looking at pages of text, whereas a reader's theater script is broken up into narration and different characters speaking, thus making the story more accessible to those students who have not discovered the incredibly fun activity of reading for entertainment.

I use shorter stories with minimal characters in literature circles.

When can one make time for a reader's theatre story in class?

When I am not reading a reader's theatre unit with my class, I usually reserve Friday's for the reading of a one-off story. It is an event that the class looks forward to, since they do not know which story I will choose. Great for Librarians. I project the stories on the screen and assign characters in class. Some characters only have 1 line. A character like that is perfect for a reluctant reader.

I have read these stories remotely/online and in class/in-person.

I hope you, and your students have a spooky good time reading A Nightmare on Elm Street 1.

Happy Halloween and Excelsior!

Mr. Marvel: The King of Reader's Theatre