12 pages
Flexible cast
Here is a back-to-basics Christmas program using your whole church family as they celebrate and perform together. Narration, directly from God’s Word, is read by adult actors from written scrolls so there is minimal memorization. The music is treasured and joyful Christmas carols and hymns. Use your youth and adults for solos, ensembles or instrumentals. At certain points, the whole congregation is invited to sing as well. School-aged kids can just dress up and pantomime with a few speaking parts and preschoolers are either sheep or tiny shepherds - cute ei...
52 pages
3 m, 8 w, 6 children, carolers and skaters
Adapted from Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic novel. Four of literature’s most famous sisters, nurturing Meg, rebellious Jo, sweet Beth and spoiled Amy, must endure the absence of their father while he is away ministering in the Civil War. Under their mother Marmee’s wise and tender care, the girls learn many lessons – including the real meaning of Christmas – as they experience both the painful and the beautiful that life offers. Full of memorable and varied music with richly drawn characters, “Little Women – A Merry Christmas” is a family-friendly timele...
53 pages
11 m, 10 w, 3 boys, and 12 flexible (With doubling, 4 m, 3 w, 1 boy, 6 flexible)
Ebenezer Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser, choosing to spend Christmas Eve alone instead of with his cheerful nephew, Fred. That night, he is visited by his old colleague, Jacob Marley, who explains that three ghosts will come. After seeing his Christmas Past, Present, and Future, Scrooge awakens with renewed faith. In his redemption, he embraces family and friends and gives generously, forever changed. Following the story of Charles Dickens’s "A Christmas Carol," this unique version incorporates singing narrators, traditional carols, and continuous action on ...
22 pages
1 m, 3 w, 2-3 girls.
Speaking parts: 1 m, 3 w, 2-3 girls. Nativity non-speaking roles for 3 m, 1 w, 2 teen boys. Also children’s choir, optional handbell choir or other musicians.
"Finding Joy" tells the poignant, but funny story of Lucy, a grandmother struggling to find joy this first Christmas after her husband has passed away. Surrounded by her daughter and grandchildren, Lucy tries her best to decorate. Unwrapping the nativity pieces, an angel appears and takes Lucy into the world of the holy family where joy and difficulty also walked han...
40 pages
2 m, 7 w, 3 b, 2 g + extras if desired.
Florence and Myrna, residents of a rest home in Pasadena, make up a story to test Myrna's children. Florence has never had a real family Christmas. Myrna had years of storybook Christmases with her five children who live in Idaho, but now her health needs have brought her to a warmer climate. Florence fantasizes that a family would come along and take her in for Christmas, but of course no family would put themselves out that way. Yes, they would, says Myrna, her children would. She taught them to be caring in just that way. "Would not," says Florence. "Would...
69 pages
4 m, 2 w
It’s Christmas Eve, and the interstate in Virginia has closed due to major snowstorms. Frank, a brash billionaire businessman, and his secretary Kristine – who’s not the “sharpest bulb on the tree” – are forced to seek shelter in a highway rest area. They are soon joined by Tom, a hitchhiking wannabe country music singer, and Mary Beth, a young, very pregnant widow. Of course, Charlie, the rest area janitor, is stuck there even though he just wants to get home to dinner.
But this ...
32 pages
Large, flexible cast. With doubling: 5 m, 2 w, extras, carolers.
The human stories behind our beloved Christmas carols are brought to life in this joyful, hour-long musical. Easily rehearsed vignettes and the option of using carolers rather than actors for singing make this show extremely flexible. Among the stories included: Issac Watts was discouraged over the hymns that were being sung in church, so he wrote a new one every week for the next two years, including "Joy to the World." Rev. Edmund Sears could feel the tensions caused by the Industrial Revolution and upcoming Civil War. He wrote "It Came Upon a Midnight Clea...
69 pages
11 m, 4 w, 2 flexible, 1 girl, 1 child, and large chorus
Gather ‘round with the ghosts in the graveyard who will show you the real story of Ebenezer Scrooge! This rousing new adaptation of the beloved novel by Charles Dickens has up-tempo songs of melody and memory. With three actors playing Ebenezer Scrooge, we go back to see Ebenezer through young boyhood, young manhood, and finally to the character we know. In “This Christmas,” Ebenezer’s family is left homeless thanks to his father’s well-intentioned but unrealistic gift giving. When his mother sells the young, gentle boy into servitude, fellow child laborers p...
34 pages
4 m, 3 w, 4 flexible, extras
Santa’s elves, Flip and Twip, are sent to help Mrs. Santa with her last-minute preparations for Christmas Eve. The two elves spin mischief, but real trouble arrives in the form of King Sarak and his spoiled son, Prince Horace. By royal decree, Horace’s Christmas stocking must include all the toys in the land! When Santa refuses, offering instead to visit Prince Horace in the usual manner, the King has the toys seized, thus jeopardizing the merriment of Christmas. With Mrs. Santa’s guidance, plus cooperation between Flip and Twip, as well as lots of audience i...
0 pages
7 m, 2 w, 8 flex, extras.
Although only a few pages long, this script provides the basis for a memorable celebration as members of your congregation experience the real Christmas. They dress in Biblical attire to partake of a Biblical meal and see the story of the manger unfold. As "guests" eating at the crowded inn (menu suggestions included), they see Mary and Joseph turned away. Later they see and hear the shepherds and wise men as they learn of the glorious birth that occurred. Two beautiful, original songs, one for Mary and one for Joseph, as well as other traditional songs highl...
38 pages
9 m, 6 w, 5 children
The winter of 1860 is a brutal one in Prophyte Harbor, a small village on the coast of Maine. Those who haven’t already left are dangerously low on food and fuel, including oil for the lighthouse lamps which could ensure the safe arrival of a critical supply ship. Meanwhile, the few survivors from a small nearby island that has been devastated by influenza, are seeking refuge on the mainland. During a fearsome night storm at sea, they land, led there by a light from a figure swinging a small lantern. Like the Christmas story of the shepherds and Wise Men bein...
10 pages
4 speaking parts.
Let your congregation sing their way into the Christmas spirit or let your choir shine in this special "Hymn Sing." In a cantata framework, three heavenly angels are in awe as they watch the nativity unfold. At appropriate times in the story, a narrator reads scripture and well-known hymns are sung. Memorized or simply read, here is an easy yet meaningful and joyous celebration, perfect for any sized church. Performance time: 60 minutes.
52 pages
4 m, 5 w, 1 teen boy, 1 teen girl, 1 boy, 6 girls
It is Christmas time. The Rasmussen family is gathering at Grandma's country home for the holidays. Everyone will be there - except Grandpa, who died recently. All are concerned for Grandma in her first Christmas without Grandpa, but Danni McKenna, a sort of step-granddaughter, may be the solution. Danni is now living with her stepmom, Samantha, who is Grandma's daughter. Danni has problems. She doesn't want to fit in or maybe she's decided that she can't fit in. She feels unloved and unwanted. By solving Danni's problems Grandma eases the loss of her beloved...
58 pages
10 m, 13 w, 2 teen boys, 2 teen girls, extras
The year is 1849, the month December. Once an insignificant port, Prophyte Harbor is now on the sailor’s map as a refuge in Maine. The people of this small fishing island continue living as they always have…simply. They struggle to keep their faith through their challenges. They will soon experience a journey like no other. Only the beams from the lighthouse will remain the constant. They hear this very important message: In life you will weather many storms, but do not fear. I am with you always. Hear my words and know the truth: there is never a time I am n...
74 pages
9 m, 6 w, plus ensemble
We powerfully follow an old, blind rabbi, Eleazar, as he returns with his grandson to Nazareth to find the answer to a question that has plagued him for most of his adult life: "Who was the son of his old friend, Joseph?" In seeking the answer, Eleazar takes a journey back in time to remember the strange events that came with a simple carpenter to the village on the edge of nowhere...of the romance that bloomed between Joseph and the daughter of Joachim...of the disgrace that stained the betrothal of Joseph and Mary...of the events that set them all on the ro...