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The zones of regulation apply to performers, parents, and kids alike. They’re a helpful tool, especially for my work as an EDI consultant in theaters and the arts. I was so excited to hear my son’s school is also teaching the zones of regulation. So excited, in fact, that I invited him to join me on the podcast for a very special episode!
Levi and I love listening to podcasts where parents and children read books. We thought it would be a fun idea to read a story and then talk about the zones. If you’ve never heard of the zones before, don’t worry! Levi starts us off with an explanation of what they are, then we read the book, and we wrap up by talking about the zones we noticed. We hope you enjoy the show!
In this episode, we cover:
What the zones of regulation are
The colors of the zones and what they mean
Kira and Levi read Red by Michael Hall
What Kira and Levi love most about this story
We hope you enjoyed this episode about the zones of regulation. Levi and I would love to hear what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram, share your thoughts, and let us know what other stories we should check out.
Links & Mentioned Resources
Connect with Kira:
Thanks for joining me on this episode of Inclusive Stages! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help me reach even more theater makers, theater artists, and theater lovers who want to make our industry a better place for everyone.
Thanks to our music composer, Zachary McConnell, and our producer, Leah Bryant.
More about the Inclusive Stages Podcast
Welcome to 'Inclusive Stages' -- the go-to weekly podcast for theater makers, theater artists, and theater lovers who want to make our industry a better place for everyone. We'll chat with actors, directors, designers, scholars, and more about the current landscape of the theater scene and get their thoughts on how we can do better.
Host Kira Troilo will also give you a sneak peek into live EDI coaching sessions and offer actionable tips for creating more equitable, inclusive, and empathetic theater spaces that support and value the diversity of artists and audiences. Join the conversation, and let's collectively shape the future of human-first theater, one stage at a time.
This post may contain affiliate links, so I may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on my site at no additional cost to you.
The unedited podcast transcript for this episode of the Inclusive Stages podcast follows:
Kira Troilo (00:04.21)
Hi Levi. Hi, can you love? Hi Levi. Hi love. Okay. How are you this morning? Good. How are you? I'm good. Thank you for being on the podcast. Today we're going to do a special podcast for you because Levi and I love listening to podcasts where moms and dads read aloud with their kids.
Right? Yeah. Yeah. So I said, you know what? I have a podcast. Yes. What do you want to say? That we are talking about the zones. That's right. We are going to talk about the zones of regulation. But first, very important because I ask all my guests this, what is your theater origin story? And that means what is it that made you get started loving theater?
It's because I like to preform. You do, yes. And have you performed before? Yes. Yes. What did you do? I did the camp... Magic by the Lake. Yeah, that was a summer camp, right? Yeah. Yeah, and what part did you play? The... grown-up.
You played a grown-up, yeah. And did you have lines that you had to say? Yes, yes and no. Yes and no? Yeah? Because we couldn't do them for the show, but we did do them to test it out. okay. But I saw you perform on stage and I was so proud. And you looked really happy.
Did you enjoy? did! How did you feel when you were on stage? What zone were you in?
Kira Troilo (02:06.843)
Blue, green and yellow. Okay, well very exciting because our guests who are listening are going to learn what that means. And they're going to be in the yellow. They're going to be in the yellow zone once they hear. All green, all blue. Okay, all right so we're going to talk about the zones. red. We're going to talk about the zones.
So first we're gonna do that. We're gonna have Levi explain the zones of regulation for us and then we're gonna read a story and then we're gonna talk about the zones in the story. And I think this will be really helpful for all of our theater friends out there to hear. So the cool thing about the zones of regulation is that it's something that mama, right, is teaching to grownups in the inclusive stages cohort. you know,
it's helpful is it's tool where we can talk about how we you know can communicate right talk about our feelings which is a really important skill wouldn't you think yeah it's important to be able to talk about our feelings
So I was really excited when I learned that Levi's school is actually also teaching the Zones of Regulation. So I figured if this was a good lesson for six-year-olds, it's probably a good lesson for everybody. Or older. Or older, that's right. Or one-ups. Yeah. So can you tell our listeners, what are the zones? What colors do we have in the zones? Blue, green, yellow, and red.
Great. And let's talk about each zone. So what is the green zone? The green zone is when you're like happy and relaxed. Okay. Okay. Nice. What about the blue zone? The blue zone is like when you're tired and sick. Tired and sick. What about bored? And sad. Or sad. Yeah. So kind of low energy, right? Low energy ones. What about the yellow zone? It's starting to get high energy and you're starting to get silly.
Kira Troilo (04:19.742)
Sometimes it can be in a bad way. Or a mean way. Yes. red zone is when you're really high energy and you start grabbing and punching and fighting.
in a really excited way, Like maybe like Christmas morning? Over energy. Over energy, yeah. So none of the zones are bad or good, right? They're just a fact, like where you are, right? Yeah. Yeah, I And in my school, they do like a card and the card means like, yeah, I have to calm down because I'm in the yellow or...
red zone and then try to get to the green zone. Yeah, that's so helpful. So you know what kind of zone you're in. And when you're in the yellow and red zone, you don't really know what you want. Ellen knew that. So she wrote what you might need on the back of the card if you can't think of anything. I love that. If it's not on the card, then you're pretty sure you will know because you don't
need it. Okay, yeah that's really helpful because when you're in the red zone it can be hard to think clearly. And yellow. And yellow too can be hard to think clearly, yeah. Okay, so we're gonna read a story and we thought after we read the story we can talk a little bit about the zones in the story, right? And this is interesting because this story that Levi picked for us to read it's called... Red. Yep, it's called Red, a Kranz story by Michael Hall.
And on the cover, it's funny because it's actually about colors, right? Yeah. On the cover is a picture of a crayon.
Kira Troilo (06:27.543)
outside of the crayon is what color? Red. Yeah, so that's the wrapping that the crayon is in is a red wrapping, but inside what color is the crayon actually coloring? Blue. Yeah. So some of the other crayons on the cover are saying, what? no. He some of the other crayons on the cover are saying what? And All right. So let's see what happens to our friend red here.
Okay, ready Levi? Yes. No, I'm gonna read it to you. Okay, so we're gonna read it together. Go ahead Levi, you start. He was red. It's a picture of the crayon. It's a blue crayon wrapped in a red wrapping. And the real crayon is coloring it.
But he wasn't very good at it. And he's coloring and it's a blue, what, fire truck? He's trying to color a red fire truck, but it's only coloring blue, right? Yeah. dear. Yeah, the green crayon in the corner says, dear. His teacher thought he needed more practice.
So teacher says, I'll draw a red strawberry, then you draw a red strawberry. You can do this, really. And the teacher is real red. Yeah, the teacher is definitely red, yep. But he couldn't really. So he's drawing blue strawberries, right? Yeah. And he says like this, and the teacher says, my, let's try again.
His mother thought he needed to mix with the other colors. So mom says, why don't you two go out and draw a nice round orange? And it's yellow, right? Yellow is his friend. Yellow and blue. Yeah, and yellow says a really big one and red says a really orange one.
Kira Troilo (08:36.428)
but they made a big greenish one. Yellow says, yuck. And red says, oops. How do you think they made green? Because it's red is actually blue because he, because the wrapper doesn't matter, but the inside does. Very astute. His grandparents thought he wasn't warm enough.
Your class is making self portraits for parents night. Wear this warm red scarf. It's nice. It's so you. And the grandparents are silver and gray, right? But it wasn't. Let me try again. But it so wasn't. dear me. Red's color is blue again.
Everyone seemed to have something to say. So these are all the crayons and they have all these things to say. Ready? Sometimes I wonder if he's really red at all. Don't be silly. It says red on his label. He came that way from the factory. Frankly, I don't think he's very bright. Well, I think he's lazy. Right. He's got to press harder. Really apply himself. Give him time. He'll catch on. Of course he will.
But he didn't catch on. Green frog, black sheep, brown cow, raaannnn...
He tried to draw a red ant.
Kira Troilo (10:21.784)
All the art supplies wanted to help. The masking tape thought he was broken inside. This will help hold you together. Put some tape around him. The scissors thought his label was too tight. One snip should do it. I thought he wasn't sharp enough. That's the pencil who's telling the story, right? Stay still now.
pencil, let Red borrow the pencil sharpener.
even with all our help and all his hard work.
Kira Troilo (11:02.167)
He just couldn't get the hang of it.
Hmm marching off after he do it did a blue stoplight Yeah, how do you think he's feeling yeah, I think so too One day he met a new friend The friend is purple berry purple says will you make a blue ocean for my boat?
Kira Troilo (11:34.447)
I can't, I'm red. Will you try? So, he did. Did he do it? Yes. And the purple crayon says, thank you, it's perfect. And red says, you're welcome, it was easy.
And he didn't stop there. Now he drew blue jeans, blue bells. What else? Blue balls. Blue bubbles. Blueberries. Blueberries. Blue out.
Yeah.
He was blue and everyone was talking. Let's hear what all the crayons have to say now. My son is brilliant. Who could have known he was blue? I always said he was blue. It was obvious. His blue ocean really lifted me. That's the purple crayon, right? All of his work makes me really happy. His blue strawberries are my favorite. He's so intense.
I'm going to make a green lizard with him, a really big one. I hear he's working on a huge new project. He's really reaching for the sky.
Kira Troilo (13:02.524)
And he really was. What's he coloring? The blue sky. Yeah. And all the other crams seem really impressed, huh? But they can't speak and they don't have any faces or eyes. They're crams, right? Yeah. They don't have any feet or anything. The end. What a good story, huh? Now let's talk about the zone.
Go closer, stay closer. Now we're going to talk about the zones. Okay, so let's see. So Red and the story at the beginning, what zone do you think Red was in when Red was trying to fit in?
You think he was in the red zone? Yes, what zone do you think he was in? Well, I think you're right that when he was kind of getting frustrated, right? And remember he squiggled off because he was trying so hard and couldn't do it? Yeah. That felt like the red zone to me because he was so mad, he scribbled right off the page. What do you think? Yeah.
But what do you think when he was trying and trying but nothing was working and he was feeling pretty sad? Yeah. Yeah, think so too. But then, what happened when he was asked if he could draw some water?
Why do think he was in the yellow zone? Because he was excited and kind of sad. Because he thought he couldn't do it. But then he was in the green zone because he didn't. Yeah? And how did he feel once he realized he could do things? Good!
Kira Troilo (15:00.167)
Thumbs up! Thumbs up! Yeah! And he felt... what do you think? Did he feel included? Yes. Yeah, because he probably in the beginning... Kind of. Kind of? Not in the beginning. Right, in the beginning he did not feel included. And what do you think it feels like when you're not feeling like you belong somewhere? Red and yellow. Yeah.
that might feel. What about blue? No tired and sad. Yeah. Definitely not green. No. But then when you feel like you're included and that you're strong, right, and you belong, and you can be helpful in a group, right? How does that make you feel? Good. Good? Green means go? Red means stop. Yellow means slow down.
Peace.
Kira Troilo (16:01.158)
Hello means nothing.
Kira Troilo (16:13.922)
The grandparents gave him a scarf. Yeah, that was pretty sweet, huh? Yeah. They were trying to help. Yeah, but they didn't. Yeah. All right, Levi, what do you think the future looks like for us? I think it looks like the future. Do you think everyone should learn about the zones? Yes. How do you think that will help people? See ya!
Included! Alright! What else?
Excited! Excited? Do you think it will help people talk to each other? Yes. Yeah? Do you think it will help mama in her work? Yes. Yes. Because what does mama do for a living? Help people feel good. Yeah. And talk about their feelings. And talk about their feelings. Yeah. And be kind. Right?
Alright, well thank you for sitting with me today Levi. I think people are going to really enjoy what you have to say. I think you will, you will, you will.
Kira Troilo (17:31.827)
Thank you for joining me today, Pee-Pie. think people are really gonna enjoy what you have to say. Have a good day! I said thank you for sitting with me. Thank you! I love you.
Kira Troilo (17:48.745)
I love you. I love you too. Audience. Okay, bye. Bye.
Kira Troilo (18:03.271)
Bye!
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