Adult Christmas

20 pages

9 flexible, 1 female, extras for nativity creche

It’s late at night in a small stable in Bethlehem. The animals have been run out of their warm stable because of some human intruders. As they complain and question the fairness of the whole situation, they meet a stranger in the corral, a small and weary donkey. As the humble donkey talks about his trip and his masters, the animals are joined by a dog who has followed his master down from the hills.  He tells them a wild story about some flying creatures that spoke to them about a “Savior” that had just been born. Next, they are joined by the haughty camels ...

15 pages

6 m, 3 w, plus choir of angels.

How Far Is It To Bethlehem? That question is asked from four different perspectives including Joseph and Mary, the wise men, the angels, and the shepherds. This play is simple to produce because each short scene except the last, a traditional nativity scene, can be rehearsed independently. Little or no scenery or lighting is required. Song suggestions are included. Performance time: 45 minutes.

26 pages

2m, 3w, 1 girl

It is a snowy Christmas Eve at a lonely roadside diner. Hope, the owner, and Darla, a waitress, are working the evening shift, anxious to close up and get home. But late-arriving customers need food to warm their bodies and faith to warm their souls. Rusty, a quiet truck driver, arrives first, followed by Meredith, a depressed homeless mother with a young daughter, and finally Randall, a brash, arrogant young man who's been traveling for a while. When Rusty convinces Meredith to get a fresh start through his outreach ministry, his unassuming act of kindness a...

50 pages

7 m, 10 w, 9 children, doubling possible.

The holidays are approaching and the members of St. Peter's Church of Riverview have to choose: either spend Christmas Eve with some local orphans or hold their traditional celebration. While many are generous with material gifts, sacrificing their time is quite another matter. Add a famous New York talent agent looking to audition the two best singers in the congregation, and soon competing desires threaten to tear apart the harmonious Christmas spirit. Set in the 1940s, this play beautifully reveals its characters' choices and convictions as they move towar...

35 pages

4 m, 7 w, 2 male teens, 2 female teens, 2 boys

An angel, who remains comically nameless throughout the play, shows a small group of squabbling strangers what the phrase "Merry Christmas" really means. From a well-off but rude family to a stressed waitress at a café, and from some tense and terse bank customers to overworked employees, we see how thoughtless people can be as the holiday approaches. Through some heavenly intervention, they all end up at the home of a typical family whose struggles to make ends meet almost, but not quite, override their path to a Christian Christmas. Together, these people e...

39 pages

5 m, 4 w, 2 teen b, 3 teen g, 1 g, extras.

Another Christmas Eve at Holly Day's Inn! New customers including two young runaways, one on drugs, as well as old customers including the parents who almost split up last year, are back at the inn. Holly Day's Inn is not a fancy place but as the characters find out, a place filled with love and hope. Performance time: About 70 minutes.

43 pages

3 m, 4 w, 1 boy, 2 girls, extras.

Hollister Day is trying to get home to his beloved wife, Mamie, in time for the Christmas church service, but his detour to a small motel may be heaven sent. He's needed to unite a regretful grandmother with her lonely grandchild and bitter daughter-in-law to show a young couple the sacredness of marriage and remind a feuding older couple that true love never really dies. Marriage, divorce, the rights of children and grandparents - everyone will identify with these problems which are faced with faith and humor. Performance time: About 70 minutes. 

43 pages

2 m, 3 w, 1 teenage girl, 1 boy, extras.

Hollister Day wants to spend the day before Christmas at home with his beloved wife, Mamie, but she insists they help their friend, Octavia, who is weak and bitter from surgery. And help they do - first with Octavia's divorcing daughter and son-in-law, and then with a teenage neighbor who is facing an unplanned pregnancy alone. Holly asks a battered angel doll to help. Through prayer, peace and goodwill is spread and somehow, the battered angel is beautiful again. A unique nativity scene, with children portraying the shepherds spreading the good news of Jesus...

41 pages

4 m, 5 w, 1 boy, 2 girls, extras.

Hollister Day is not sure why on Christmas Eve he is keeping open his hamburger stand, Holly Day's Inn. So many of the customers are unhappy including a young, troubled minister and his wife two girls, whose parents have seriously quarreled and a battling newlywed couple. But God works in mysterious ways with those who come into the inn and they find their answers. Performance time: About 60 minutes. 

40 pages

4 m, 4 w, and 1 teen

What does Christmas really mean in the heart of the average person? That is what news reporter Vicki Huffman is assigned to find out and her story will be featured in the paper’s Christmas edition. She needs to interview a number of people from different walks of life to try to come to some consensus about this special holiday. She is assisted by her friend Elisabeth, who already has a good handle on what Christmas is about, as well as a young papergirl who touches the hearts of everyone in the office and beyond. She even melts th...

40 pages

2 m, 4 w.

Richard Franklin is a bitter man who can't stop blaming his son, William, for an accident which killed an older Franklin son one Christmas some 20 years ago. The tragedy has soured their father-son relationship although Richard, an important church member, and William, who is indifferent to religion, have learned to live with it. A crisis this Christmas, however, makes both men face up to the true meaning of what giving - and forgiving - really mean. Additional roles include Betty, the wife, who knows God is the source of all strength; the Franklin daughters;...

8 pages

1 m, 2 flexible parts.

Hiriam, the innkeeper from Bethlehem, interrupts the modern day speaker's sermon. Hiriam has been desperately seeking the couple he turned away some 2,000 years ago to now make amends to them. The modern day speaker and assistant are amazed then outraged at his story. But their piousness fades as they see how Hiriam is truly seeking the Christ child. They tell what happened to that newborn Babe and explain that He is still alive and the only way to keep Him is to share Him. Then they do so by shaking hands with everyone. This program will make even visitors a...

25 pages

4 m, 4 w, extras.

It is a very much depressed Wallis family on Christmas eve that meets to discuss their problems. They hardly have enough money for wood for the fire, Emma may lose her job, Carol's boyfriend is hurt and may die, and brother Joe is in prison. They are all waiting for Judge Davis to bring over a tin box their grandfather left them which, according to his will, cannot be opened until tonight. They hope it is filled with money. As they wait, a stranger enters seeking warmth and they receive him as a friend. When the box is opened and found empty, they discover th...

52 pages

5 m, 8 w, 1 flexible, 4 teen girls, 1 boy

Volunteers from several local churches have opened a mission kitchen, but they soon discover it’s not just the hungry and homeless who need help this Christmas. Claire, one of the mission organizers, is shocked to see her long-estranged sister Jackie coming to the kitchen with her two children. Another worker, Mavis, admits her difficult past to Marvin, a homeless man who is afraid to get back in touch with his family. Plenty of humor is added by Jolee, a naïve, over-eager volunteer, and Albert, a college student overwhelmed by the attention from Wynetta and ...

36 pages

6 m, 4 w, 1 child

Three days before Christmas, a snowstorm has closed the airport and stranded travelers on their way home for the holidays. Behind each face is a story: the young man returning to make amends for a past left behind 15 years earlier; the young woman who feels she's a failure, running home to Daddy after her marriage falls apart; and the man who's too proud to admit he was wrong and restore a severed relationship with his brother. Also there's the young wife who's more comfortable spending Christmas in an airport with strangers than at home without her husband a...