How To Handle The Narrators (Group 4) In MAD Society Plays

 How to Handle Narrators (Group 4) in MAD Plays  

"Neverland UnHooked"...a MAD Society Play by Bethany J. Baldwin, www.MADsocietyInc.com, Parody, Parts: 12-51, 55-70 min.  

Hi, I'm Coach Baldwin making a video for all those producing one of the Spring Plays I’ve written, to help you understand and provide the roles of the “narrators” or “chorus” or “group 4” (all of which are the same thing).  

This chorus of narrators can be performed by any number of people by dividing the lines or having the narrators speak in unison which is awesome to have a very flexible cast number size and options for less confident actors and opens the play up for the ability to utilize dancers, singers and live musicians.  

The Narrator part fills the space between each scene in the play, creating a more cohesive feel to the whole show.  The purchase of a MAD Society play comes with an MP3 recording with the narrator's part done for you if you do not have enough actors to fill the roles or simply don’t want to attempt more than performing the required portions of the play script.   

There are 2 pre-recorded options to pick from. 1 has the jingle and the narrator's lines. The other has only the jingle so your narrators can say their lines with the pre recorded jingle. And your 3rd option is to have your theater group provide live music and narrators to say the lines without the need of the pre-recorded jingle.  

The narrator's part is the perfect opportunity for students to let their imaginations run wild! What should the narrators wear? How could they interact with each other? What voice inflections should they have? Could they have choreographed moves? Poses they strike? Dances they do? What is their attitude and demeanor? Do they all have different personalities or are they all the same? Maybe only one of them is different from the others? The possibilities are endless.

When you watch movies and see large groups of characters that never separate, pay attention to their details. What did the movie writers choose to do with those characters?  

Here are some ways you could break up the narrator's part (using the Tiki’s from my play "Neverland UnHooked" as our example)…  

-One tiki could read all the lines for the whole play 

-2 tikis could share all the lines. Maybe one tiki only ever says “tiki, tiki, tiki?” 

-3 tikis could share all the lines, splitting each of the 9 lines for each scene into 3 parts, or each tiki gets 3 lines chunked together, or each tiki gets 3 lines that are spaced out 

-You could have 27 tikis that each take ⅓ of each of the 9 lines between each scene 

-Or 27 tikis that speak in unison for all the lines, or any number of tikis that speak in unison for all the lines 

-Maybe one actor says all the lines that are not ‘tiki, tiki, tiki’ and the group of tikis say all the ‘tiki, tiki, tiki’s? 

-9 tikis could each take one line per scene 

-You could play the music provided for this group while they do some kind of dance or choreographed moves to it, then fade the music so they say their lines without the music. This choreographed dance could be the same for each scene or it could change a little, or change a lot. If you have actors who are interested and familiar with dance and choreography, they could come up with a new little routine between each scene.  

The narrators can use the beat of the music to say their lines with it, or if that’s hard and frustrating for the actors they can just say their lines over top of the music and ignore the beat.

The jingle is fun, so be sure to play it, but it doesn’t have to be played the same time as the tiki’s saying their lines. I could just be played for the stage crew as they change things between scenes.   

The students' ability to feel successful are more important than having the lines perfectly with the jingle music provided. Be sensitive to this and put the students' needs first. My husband and I do the pre-recorded narrators parts and I will say that “one of us” struggles with the beat sometimes.   

Remember again, the narrator parts are optional! What should not be “optional” is the need for music between the scenes of the play. Once you start a performance there should not be any cringy, awkward silent moments for your audience. The sound and sights need to keep going!  

Providing the narrator part for a MAD Society Spring Play is either something someone in your community can get excited about and have a vision for how to make this happen, or it will look like torture for you and your leaders. Please don’t attempt the narrators part if it looks like torture. Just play the pre-recorded jingle with the words provided and be satisfied!   

Show this video to your drama group and those who will be narrators in a MAD Society Spring Play so they can be encouraged and inspired.   Also send this video to the adult who will be heading up your “narrators” parts for your play. Outsource and be satisfied with not micromanaging!