Summary: Bible characters come on stage in ones and twos and line up across the stage. At the conclusion all characters hear the baby Jesus cry and turn to look. (“Like the stone on the surface of a still river, driving the ripples on forever, redemption rips through the surface of time in the cry of a tiny babe.” – Bruce Cockburn, Cry of a Tiny Babe on Nothing But a Burning Light, 1991.)
Style: Dramatic. Duration: 10-12minNotes:
• This play works well with young children who don’t need to learn lines.
• This play can be performed with very little practice as the narrator directs activities from the script.
• This play can easily be adapted to suit the number and gender balance of performers by using different (or more or less) Bible characters.
Actors: 1N, 12C
Characters:
NARRATOR
1. ADAM
2. EVE
3. ABRAHAM
4. SARAH
5. MOSES
6. DAVID
7. JONATHAN
8. MARY
9. PETER
10. MARY MAGDALENE
11. JOANNA
12. JOHN
Setting: empty stage except for a cradle set up in the middle with a short stool behind it. As each person takes their place on stage, he/she looks to audience until final baby cry.
NARRATOR:
The most important person in the Bible is Jesus. But the Bible has stories about lots of other people who appear in the first book, Genesis, the last book, Revelation, and all the books between.
Like Adam and Eve...
ADAM and EVE walk on from the left and circle the stage.
NARRATOR (while they are walking):
The Lord God made clothes of skin for Adam and Eve and dressed them. And the Lord God drove them out of the Garden of Eden and made them work as farmers. And after they had gone, he placed cherubim and a flaming, flashing sword on the east side of the Garden of Eden to the guard the way back to the tree of life.
ADAM and EVE stand at left front facing the audience.
NARRATOR:
Later came Abraham and Sarah...
ABRAHAM and SARAH walk on from the left and circle the stage.
NARRATOR (while they are walking):
The Lord said to Abraham, “Leave your country, and your people and your father’s house and your father’s land and go to the land I will show you. So Abraham and his wife Sarah set out on a long journey to the land of Canaan.
ABRAHAM and SARAH stand next to ADAM and EVE facing the audience.
NARRATOR:
Many years later came Moses...
MOSES (carrying a walking stick) walks on from the left, then circles the stage.
NARRATOR (while he is walking):
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea (MOSES pauses and raises his stick for a moment), and all that night the Lord used a strong east wind to drive the sea back and turn it into dry land. There was a path on dry ground between the waters and the Israelites walked through the sea. There was a wall of water on their right and a wall of water on their left.
MOSES stands next to ABRAHAM and SARAH facing the audience.
NARRATOR:
A long time later there were two young men, David and Jonathan...
DAVID and JONATHAN (holding a bow and arrow) walk on from the left, they separate, DAVID goes ahead. JONATHAN pretends to shoot an arrow. Then they circle the stage.
NARRATOR (while they are walking):
Then David escaped from a city and went running to Jonathan and asked “What have I done? What is my crime? Why is your father, Saul, trying to kill me?” A little later, Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace. The Lord knows we are friends.” Then David left and Jonathan went back to the town.
DAVID and JONATHAN stand next to MOSES facing the audience.
NARRATOR:
Many, many years passed and then came Mary, Jesus’ mother...
MARY walks on from the left and circles the stage.
NARRATOR (while she is walking):
When Mary was pregnant, she got ready for a trip and then hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea where she entered the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah. She greeted her cousin, Elizabeth, who was also pregnant. Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then returned home.
MARY sits on a stool next to the cradle facing the audience.
NARRATOR:
Around 30 years after this came Peter...
PETER walks on from the left,
NARRATOR (while he is walking):
Peter climbed out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind he was afraid, and he began to sink (PETER pretends to stumble and fall, and then continues on his circle around the stage.) Peter yelled out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. “Why did you doubt?” he asked.
PETER stands to the right of MARY facing the audience.
NARRATOR:
Only a couple of years later come Mary Magdalene and Joanna...
MARY MAGDALENE and JOANNA (both carrying small containers) walk on from the left and circle the stage.
NARRATOR (while they are walking):
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to Jesus’ tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb and when they went in they did not find the body of Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
MARY MAGDALENE and JOANNA stand to the right of Peter facing the audience.
NARRATOR:
At the end of the Bible is John...
JOHN (holding a pen and notebook) walks on from the left and circles the stage.
NARRATOR (while he is walking):
I am John, your brother and friend who has suffered with you, believed with you and been so patient with you – and all because of Jesus. I was on the island of Patmos and, on the Lord’s day, God’s Spirit was with me, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.
JOHN stands next to Mary Magdalene and Joanna at the right front of the stage facing the audience. So standing on stage from left to right are: Adam, Eve, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, Jonathan, then Mary sitting beside a cradle, then Peter, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, John.
NARRATOR:
The story of Jesus is the centrepiece of the Bible. His birth is like a stone dropped into a quiet pond sending out ripples that reach out in all directions, through all of time, into everything.
MARY turns, reaches down, picks up the Jesus doll from the cradle, and switches on the tape player that’s in the cradle. As soon as the (recorded) sound of a baby crying is heard, ALL THE OTHER PLAYERS jerk their heads around in unison to look at MARY and Jesus and they freeze in that position.
End.
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copyright Westchurch Kids, Christchurch, New Zealand. This script may be used free of charge, provided no fee is charged for entry to the performance. In return for free use, the authors would like to be told of any performance. Notification of use should be to Westchurch at