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Drama, Skits, & Sketches 2
Zondervan
Copyright © 1999 Zondervan
All right reserved. ISBN: 0-310-22027-0
Chapter One
SCRIPTURES SKETCHES Some students can tell Beelzebub from Barnabas. Others need help finding the New Testament. But the Bible is brought to life for all teens when they can act out scriptural episodes, stories, and passages. These scripts can be used as no-rehearsal reader's theater, memorized performances, or anything in between. (Other scripts that illustrate or portray particular Scriptures are indexed by Bible reference on page 6.)
* * *
The Parable of the 10 Boy Scouts
Matthew 25:1-13
This modern setting for Jesus' parable exchanges 10 Boy Scouts looking forward to a camp out with the 10 virgins waiting for the bride groom. All that stands between the scouts and their camp out is a few C batteries. To be prepared to do this sketch on page 13, you just need flashlights and batteries. Or you can use it as a reader's theater or spontaneous melodrama by doing away with any props at all and having the actors read their lines. Michael Noorman
The Good Samaritan
Luke 10:30-37
Pull the Good Samaritan out of the hat once more. Only this time go with the twist that the script on page 16 offers. The man who was robbed and left for dead in Jesus' parable becomes a teenage boy whose best friend has given him the brush off.
Use questions like these to spur discussion after doing the skit:
When someone was a good Samaritan to you, how did it make you feel?
When was the last time you could have helped someone else but you were too busy or just not interested in that person? Would you do it differently now?
Is there ever a time when we can do too much when we try to help someone? Michael J. Hotchkiss
Do I Have What It Takes?
A Reader 's Theater from Exodus and 1 Corinthians
Feeling inadequate to do God's work is as old as Moses and Paul. Using the creative reading of two Scripture passages-Exodus 4:1-18 and 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:14-the reader's theater on page 19 meshes the struggle of those two heroes of the faith into a single reading. Recognizing that we're not the first to feel under-qualified and over-challenged encourages Christians to trust God's choice and to obey his call.
Place a reader on each side of the stage to underscore the dialog. The first reader uses the Exodus passage to question his ability to do what God has asked. The second reader responds with the 1 Corinthians passage, which sometimes offers answers and sometimes merely affirms the struggle. Scott Davis
House on a Rock
Matthew 7:24-27
Requiring very little rehearsal, this adaptation of Jesus' parable has more action than talk. With a saavy narrator, you could even use the script (page 22) as a spontaneous melodrama. John Cosper, Jr.
Living Water
A Drama Using John 4:1-26
Scripture comes to life in cast members the audience can connect with and a few contemporary touches. The script is on page 24. Scott Davis
The Coin and the Sheep Who Ran Away
Luke 15:4-10 Using an oddball combination of the parables of the lost coin and the lost sheep, show God's compassionate grace in action. The story plays best if the actors memorize the script (page 26). Amy Norbie
The Mustard Seed
Matthew 17:20
"God helps those as helps themselves" isn't in the Bible, of course. But sometimes mountain moving is less a matter of believing harder and more a matter of taking action, one step of faith at a time. This sketch (page 31) can be used to promote a mission or service project or to spark discussion of the kind of faith that moves mountains. Teresa McCasland
Who Am I?
A good fit around graduation time, this sketch requires a bit of technological expertise to recreate the burning bush out of which God spoke to Moses (Exodus 3:1-15). One group videotaped the flame of a candle burning in the dark and used a large screen video projector to show the tape. Regular TV monitors are adequate, of course; it's just not as cool. After performing the script (page 32), play Margaret Becker's "Who Am I?" For an added touch, find the poem written by Deitrich Bonhoeffer from his prison cell in Germany during World War I. It's also called "Who Am I," and can be found in most versions of Bonhoeffer's book The Cost of Discipleship. Scott Davis
THE PARABLE OF THE 10 BOY SCOUTS
Matthew 25:1-13
* * *
CHARACTERS PROPS
Scoutmaster Ten flashlights with batteries
Narrator
Ten Boy Scouts
* * * NARRATOR: And it came to pass in the days of Wal-Mart, Kmart, and other discount stores, that there were ten boy scouts ...
SCOUTS: (individually sounding off) 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ... (etc.)
NARRATOR: Well, there were eleven-ten boy scouts and their fearless, trusting leader, the scoutmaster.
As soon as they're done counting off, they start tussling and pushing and making exclamations.
SCOUTMASTER: All right, men ... men! (SCOUTS get quieter) All right, men, I'm going to prepare a wonderful campsite for you guys. Wait for me to return-and remember our motto: BE PREPARED!!
NARRATOR: And all the scouts shouted ...
SCOUTS: Be prepared!
NARRATOR: And the scoutmaster left, and there was a great sigh heard throughout the land.
SCOUTS: (sigh)
NARRATOR: Then night fell ... (offstage thud) and the scouts began to organize themselves for the outing. They formed two groups: the wise scouts and the foolish scouts.
WISE SCOUTS: Be prepared!
FOOLISH SCOUTS: Chill out!
NARRATOR: Now the wise scouts ...
WISE SCOUTS: Be prepared!
NARRATOR: ... were sensible, thoughtful, and prudent lads. They had brought all the equipment they needed for a camp out, and most important of all, they all brought an extra supply of batteries.
WISE SCOUTS: (turning on their flashlights and sweeping the audience) Be prepared! (flashlights off)
NARRATOR: Now the foolish scouts ...
FOOLISH SCOUTS: Chill out!
NARRATOR: ... lived by a different code than the wise scouts. The foolish scouts were ... foolish. They didn't think ahead to what they might need for a camp out. All they wanted to do was read comic books and eat junk food. They didn't prepare at all.
WISE SCOUTS: Be prepared!
FOOLISH SCOUTS: Chill out!
NARRATOR: And the really stupid thing was NONE of the foolish scouts remembered to bring extra batteries.
FOOLISH SCOUTS: Chill out!
NARRATOR: As night grew darker, the scouts turned on their flashlights (flashlights on) while they waited for the scoutmaster to come back.
WISE SCOUTS: Be prepared.
NARRATOR: And they waited and waited ... and waited ... and waited just a little bit longer.
WISE SCOUTS: Be prepared.
FOOLISH SCOUTS: Chill out.
NARRATOR: The scoutmaster still didn't come ... and the night grew darker ... and the scouts became tired.
SCOUTS: Yyaawwnn! (one by one they wilt to the floor and fall asleep as the narrator reads)
NARRATOR: One by one the scouts fell asleep, and none of them remembered to turn off their flashlights. Well after midnight, (one by one the flashlights go off) when the moon was high in the sky, someone shouted ...
SCOUTMASTER: (shouts offstage) Hey men, I'll be there soon.
NARRATOR: The scouts woke up and found that their flashlights were out. How could they go on the outing with dead batteries? There was a flurry of activity as the wise scouts replaced the dead batteries. The foolish scouts, however, had no extra batteries. (FOOLISH SCOUTS crawl from one person to another begging for batteries) They begged the wise scouts to share batteries with them so they could be ready for the outing, too. But the wise scouts told them ...
WISE SCOUTS: Chill out!
NARRATOR: If the wise scouts would have given the foolish scouts some of their replacement batteries, then no one would be ready. They would all miss the scoutmaster and not be able to go on the outing. Only the wise scouts were prepared. Only the wise scouts would be able to follow the scoutmaster on the outing.
WISE SCOUTS: (turning on the flashlights and sweeping the audience) Be prepared!
FOOLISH SCOUTS: (irritated) Chill out!
NARRATOR: The wise scouts told the foolish scouts that they could buy some extra batteries at the All Night Stop and Rob Thrift Mart. Just five blocks down, hang a left, go two more blocks ... you get the picture. The foolish scouts went as fast as they could to the Thrift Mart. (FOOLISH SCOUTS exit) But while they were gone buying batteries, the scoutmaster returned.
SCOUTMASTER: (enters) Men?!
NARRATOR: The scouts stood to greet the scoutmaster.
SCOUTS: (leaping enthusiastically to their feet) Be prepared!
SCOUTMASTER: All right, men, let's go camping!
NARRATOR: And there was great excitement.
WISE SCOUTS: (high fives, back slapping, and body slamming) Yeah!
NARRATOR: And they happily left as the scoutmaster led them to the best outing ever. (exit, still celebrating) When the foolish scouts returned from the store, (FOOLISH SCOUTS enter) they found that they had missed the scoutmaster. They were really bummed.
FOOLISH SCOUTS: (dejectedly) Awwww!
NARRATOR: So what's the point of this little story? If you're not EVER READY, you'll be left in the dark.
FOOLISH SCOUTS: Be prepared! END
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Drama, Skits, & Sketches 2 Copyright © 1999 by Zondervan. Excerpted by permission.
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