Christmas

30 pages

3 m, 3 w, extras.

Donnie, an ingenious young boy, is determined his father is going to develop faith even if he has to impersonate Gabriel. He might have a dirty robe and a crooked halo, but somehow he gets his point across. Very skillfully blended into this play is a short, sacred pageant. Performance time: 60 minutes.

48 pages

3 m, 2 w, 4 boys, 2 girls, 4 boys or girls, extras possible.

Lifelong friends Will and Glenn have a long history of producing the Christmas pageant together at their church. Following the hiring of a young pastor with new ideas (including a Santa-themed Christmas pageant), Will and Glenn found themselves on opposite sides of the debate, and the rift has cut off all communication between them for two years running. Now Will no longer attends church and calls his friend a backstabber. Glenn’s daughter Roberta is determined to bring the two lost friends back to each other. She takes on directing the children's Christmas p...

12 pages

2 speaking parts.

A minister, alone in the sanctuary, wants something different for Christmas Eve service, something with a real emotional kick, perhaps a famous person. Then the Voice from above speaks. For every glitzy idea the minister has, the Voice counters it. Finally by recounting Jesus' birth, the Voice seems to get through to the minister. The simple nativity story is best. The minister pulls out a tape recorder proclaiming, "But I do have a celebrity!" The tape, however, has only one voice - his own. The minister realizes the old, old story of Love's greatest gift gi...

19 pages

8 m, 6 w, narrator.

In Part I a modern wife, serene in her happiness, scoffs lightly as her old-fashioned mother tells the children the Biblical story of Christmas, acted out in pantomime with a narrator in Part II. In Part III the modern wife finds, in near tragedy, that the scarlet ribbon of Christmas, which runs through the Bible, still binds the past and the future together in faith and hope. A presentation that offers easy rehearsal scheduling, and yet highlights the Christmas spirit. Performance time: 90 minutes.

25 pages

3 m, 4 w.

Janie wants a real old-fashioned Christmas, one that brings back the spirit of the old days, but her boyfriend is too busy working at the mission to help her. As hard as she tries, everything goes wrong - the popcorn balls are too sticky, the homemade candles collapse, and the live Christmas tree falls over. Janie thinks Christmas is ruined, but it's only the display that's failed. With the help of her family and boyfriend, Janie rediscovers that the Christmas spirit is in each of us, giving and sharing all year long. Performance time: 30 minutes.

38 pages

With doubling: 7 m, 3 w. Extras as desired.

The extreme peril and the boundless love surrounding Jesus' birth is beautifully dramatized here. Lucius, an ex-Roman soldier still vibrant although somewhat crippled, has escorted Mary and Joseph on the long trip to Bethlehem to register for the tax. In return Joseph will build cabinets for the inn that Lucius owns with his wife Swan. They hide the couple in a small cave used as a barn and soon the older couple thinks of Mary as an adopted daughter. But there's danger everywhere. In a tense scene Lucius uses his wit and friendship with local soldiers to enab...

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...

20 pages

7 m, 5 w, 2 teen girls, 2 boys, extras as angels.

Leah, a teenager, has never spoken a word in her life, and her mother, an old servant woman at an inn, feels guilty and worried about the future. But that all changes when Baby Jesus is born at the inn's stable. As shepherds come to worship Him, another miracle occurs and Leah speaks for the first time, to sing a lullaby. A beautiful, dramatic story. Performance time: 30 minutes.

32 pages

Large flexible cast. Minimum with doubling: 8 m, 4 w, 8 children, 8 angels, extras.

Three storylines intertwine beautifully to tell the Christmas story. It’s 1917 in the small town of Bridger Falls where a widower and his five children get ready to celebrate Christmas in their comfortable home. Watching them from outside a window is a lonely little boy, Jacob, who’s trying to help support his mother while his father, Will, fights the war. The second setting is a bunker overseas where Will witnesses to two other soldiers fighting in World War I. As if sending us back in time, a third setting takes us back to Bethlehem where we relive the Chri...

43 pages

3 m, 2 w

Mary’s best friend, Yana, and Joseph’s best friend, Mendel, succeed in getting their friends together. And so begins a betrothal period in anticipation of a Jewish wedding. Joseph and Mary get to know one another better during the betrothal, and love grows. Joseph is also hard at work on an addition to his home in preparation for Mary to take up residence there. Everyone’s plans change, however, when the angel Gabriel appears to Mary with the news that she will bear the Messiah. Mary’s pregnancy scandalizes the town, strains friendships, and threatens to end ...

28 pages

3 m, 5 w, optional 3 m.

Mary had her simple life with Joseph all planned out, that is, until she had a visit from the angel Gabriel. He told her of the great honor that God was bestowing on her; she would be blessed above all women. Come along on Mary's journey to see what it might have been like for her. Sense her excitement as she visits Elizabeth and learns more about Jehovah and His awesome power, and experience her broken heart over Joseph's unbelief. After Joseph has a visit from an angel in a dream, he decides to take Mary as his wife straightway. When he and Mary confront he...

24 pages

3 m, 4 w, extras.

Jill, a 17-year-old runaway with a new baby, has been living on the streets for the past two years. It's just a few days until Christmas, and she finds herself at a bus station contemplating whether to continue living on the streets or to reunite with her parents. Jill wants to do what is best for her 7-week-old baby, but her stormy relationship with her father makes her hesitant to return home. At the bus station, Jill meets Walter, a kindly bus station attendant, and another young runaway, Lisa. With Walter's love and guidance, Jill eventually finds her way...

48 pages

4 m, 6 w

Rev. Sarah, the minister of a small-town church, finds Christmas barreling down on her. Like everyone, she, too, is caught in the trap of commercialization where everything has to be bigger and better, including the Christmas Eve service. But how is she supposed to get it all done? Her crisis peaks moments before the service is to begin when, feeling totally uninspired, she finds out the kids who were supposed to present the nativity are stranded and won't make it in time. Her salvation comes from the most unlikely characters: John, the old maintenance man; C...

26 pages

6 m, 6 w, choir.

Three shepherds hear the message of the Christmas angels and each has a loved one he hopes to bring to the Savior. Idealistic Nathan wishes to take a beautiful but selfish singer from the inn aged Lemuel wishes to take his weak son and nagging daughter-in-law and Amos wishes to take his wife, Rachel, who is bitter over the loss of their newborn son. Some go to the manger and some do not. Those who go find love, joy, and peace. Performance time: 60 minutes.

33 pages

5 m, 6 w, 2 boys, 4 girls, extras.

Some 10 years earlier a dying little boy taught B.J. Grant, a skeptical teenager, about Christ ("To See Christ at Christmas"). Now a youth minister, B.J. gets a chance to do the same. He arranges a Christmas church camp where Gary, a lonely boy, finds love in the family of Christ, and Mae, the camp director, finds the courage to go on. Ending allows for optional Christmas program of your choice. Very touching. Performance time: 35 minutes.