ABSTRACT
In Japan, published kamishibai and most hand-made kamishibai usually have the script written on the backs of the cards so they can be read aloud. 1 I only have students do this as a final step, if at all, during the process because I find that when students have written their stories on the backs of the cards, they tend to become reliant on their written versions. They either mechanically memorize them or lean behind the stage to read what they have written. Not only does this limit the development of their stories, it also diminishes their agility as performers to respond spontaneously to the unexpected occurrences that inevitably arise in live performance. 2 For this reason, I was as surprised as the students when Mr. G announced that “everything” we were doing in the kamishibai project was “writing,” even though there had only been scant engagement with text-based literacy in the project up to that point. If what we were engaged in could be characterized as “writing,” how must our conventional understanding of writing as a mode adapt and transform?
