The purpose of this project was to determine if oral interpretation in a social context setting can be used as a persuasive means of suicide prevention. A script on suicide was compiled, directed and performed as a solo performance by the writer. The thesis includes the script, a history of suicide prevention, the process of compiling a script for solo interpretation performance, and an overall evaluation of the production. This Author's evaluation was influenced by audience and critic responses.

The thrust of this study was twofold: to research and compile a script of English Medieval and Renaissance literature and to direct a group performance of the script in the oral interpretation mode at Scarborough Faire in Waxahachie, Texas. The study sought to show that a Readers Theatre script compiled of literature from the oral tradition of England was a suitable art form for a twentieth-century audience and that Readers Theatre benefited participants in the Scarborough Faire workshop program. This study concluded that the performed script appealed to a modern audience and that workshop training was enhanced by Readers Theatre in rehearsal and performance.

This thesis examines the possibilities of social-context issues in interpretation. A group interpretation script relating the current difficult conditions of rural Iowa was compiled. Three experts in the field of interpretation were asked to evaluate the potential of this social-context script. It was discovered that a compiled interpretation script of Iowa literature can successfully depict the social concerns facing the family farms of Iowa.