Summary: A series of incidents from Jesus’ life are transposed to present time in a local place and are observed by children. These kids don’t really understand what is happening but are attracted to this mystery man. They don’t see Jesus’ death and wonder what’s happened to him, waiting to see him again.
Style: Dramatic. Duration: 10min
Actors: Narrator + Children
Notes:
This play works well with young children who don’t need to learn lines. It can be performed with very little practice as the narrator directs activities from the script. There is no specified number of children needed to perform this play, so it can suit many different sized groups.
Script
Scene 1: (a local wedding reception venue)
NARRATOR:
The wedding reception is well underway. The kids are becoming bored and start to get up to mischief (children act this out as it is read):
• sneaking up to the dessert table and steal rum truffles
• playing chasing around groups of talking adults
• telling jokes (all jokes are optional): Did you hear about the two t.v. aerials that got married? The wedding wasn’t great, but the reception was fantastic!
Suddenly, there’s a disturbance in the kitchen. The kids all go in to look. A man is telling the serving staff to fill all the drink containers with tap water. The kids are puzzled (frowning, scratching their heads). Are the wedding guests going to drink water now? Then the man tells the staff to take the containers out to the dining rooms.
Off they go and the kids are left alone in the kitchen with the remaining containers. They look at each other and then move over to the containers.
One boy goes up and sticks his finger into the red water and holds it up and licks it. Ooh. Bad taste. The others all stick their fingers in too. Yucky taste! They’d seen the water go in and now it has changed! And where’s the man who arranged all this? Does he know it’s changed?
(End of scene. Music.)
Scene 2: (a local park)
The kids are mucking around under the trees:
• skipping
• playing catch
• chasing each other
• telling jokes: A man was spreading white powder on his lawn. His neighbour asked him why he was doing that. He said ‘It’s to keep the elephants away.’ ‘But we don’t get elephants around here,’ the neighbour replied. ‘I know,’ the man replied. ‘Great stuff, isn’t it?’
Then they become aware that a crowd is gathering on the other side of the trees. What’s happening? They wander over to see. In the front of the crowd a man is talking. They push forward, squeezing between the adults, dodging legs, tripping over bags on the ground. When they get to the front they squat on the grass. The kids recognise the man at the centre as the same guy who’d been at the wedding. What’s he doing here? Why are so many people listening? The kids look all around. What’s so special about him?
(End of scene. Music.)
Scene 3: (a local shopping mall)
The kids are hanging around the food court while their parents shop:
• Eating chips, frozen yoghurts, milkshakes
• Firing paper balls through their straws at people passing
• Throwing paper-napkin darts
• Pulling faces
• Telling jokes: Why didn’t the lobster share his toys? He was too shellfish!
A man comes walking in. The same man from the wedding and the park. A bunch of people follow him. The kids stop what they’re doing and watch him. The man spots ten scruffy, smelly, homeless people and walks straight over to them. They talk, and suddenly the homeless people are wearing new clothes and shoes and have new bags over their shoulders. The kids talk to each other. As the man walks away, the homeless people hurry away, too. Only one follows the man and thanks him.
(End of scene. Music.)
Scene 4: (a local school hall)
It’s Sunday morning, and a church is meeting. Most of the kids are:
• sitting quietly
• politely paying attention to the people at the front.
Some of the kids are:
• swinging their legs vigorously
• picking their noses
• turning their heads in all directions
• sulking
• whispering jokes: What do you call a man with a spade? Doug. What do you call a man without a spade? Douglas
Then a different person comes up the front to speak. The kids are amazed. It’s the same man from the wedding and the park and the mall. They all sit very quietly, wondering what he will say. Suddenly the door bangs loudly and a strange woman limps in. The kids all turn to look at her. They stand up and peer over heads to get a better look. The woman is all bent over and crooked. The man at the front calls to her: ‘You’re free from your sickness!’ Then he walks over and hugs her and she stands up straight as can be. Wow! Awesome! ‘Hey, what are you doing,’ another adult says. ‘It’s Sunday! We’re having a meeting!’ There’s an argument, and the kids look back and forth. This is fun. They like this man!
(End of scene. Music.)
Scene 5: (a local main road)
It’s a busy morning. Traffic’s everywhere. The kids are walking to school:
• Stepping in and out of the gutter
• Kicking stones onto the road
• Skipping along
• Tripping each other up
• Telling jokes: There were two sausages in a frying pan. One sausage says, ‘Wow, it’s hot in here.’ The other says, ‘Goodness gracious, it’s a talking sausage.’
Then they notice a traffic jam. Something is holding up all the cars that are driving out of the city. They rush over to investigate. It’s a man – the same man from the wedding, the park, the mall, the hall – and he’s walking down the middle of the road carrying a big wooden beam with a bar making a cross shape. Police cars are escorting him – lights but no sirens. It’s very quiet. Everyone’s stopped to watch. Everyone seems serious. The kids stand up straight and tall. What’s happening? Where’s he going? What’s he carrying? Why? And why does he look sad. So very sad.
(End of scene. Music.)
Final Scene: (Anywhere)
(Children sit along the front of the stage, whispering to each other, glancing at the audience, legs dangling.) That is the last they ever see of the mystery man. They keep looking out for him but he doesn’t turn up anymore. They think something very bad must’ve happened. Someone said he’d been killed. And someone else said he’d been killed but he was alive again – that would be pretty surprising!
But the kids keep looking for him.
Waiting to hear some good news.
Waiting.
(End. Music.)
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© Copyright Westchurch Kids, all rights reserved. The script may not be reproduced, translated or copied in any medium, including books, CDs and on the Internet, without written permission of the authors.
This play may be performed free of charge, on the condition that copies are not sold for profit in any medium, nor any entrance fee charged. In exchange for free performance, the authors would appreciate being notified of when and for what purpose the play is performed. They may be contacted at: