Christmas

43 pages

5 m, 6 w, and several flexible

Christmas is going to be a little unusual this year as the family tries to celebrate their first "official" holiday after Grandma's death. Over the past year, Grandpa, Samantha, and her teens, Mary and David, have each responded differently to their loss. Samantha has buried herself in her job at the hospital, David has quit the team, and Mary has developed an attitude. Family unity has fallen apart, but through humorous and tender moments, they try to rebuild their broken relationships. A beautiful Jesus stocking filled with love notes they have each written...

13 pages

4 m.

A modern retelling of the Job story from the Bible. A fascinating discussion about the differences in modern religions. In the waiting room of an airport in the American Midwest, Joe Barnes, a prosperous businessman, is met by his doctor, Ed Tishman. Joe's wife and children were aboard a plane that crashed at the Tel Aviv airport, and he's waiting to hear what happened to them. Dr. Tishman offers pills to calm Joe's nerves, but he refuses them. Joe recounts his toughness in riding out business losses, but confesses his confidence and faith have now been shake...

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...

19 pages

8 m, 8 w.

Here is a play which shows that the Christmas story is really a story of people on a journey. Mary and Joseph and the wise men travelled long, difficult distances physically, but more important are their personal journeys. They, along with the shepherds of the field and even a messenger in King Herod's court, face danger, consuming doubt, and sometimes frightening emptiness. For some of them it's a journey into the unknown. Yet each one finds - and follows - a path to the King of Eternity. Their journeys beckon us to follow. Performance time: About 25 minutes...

20 pages

1 m, 1 - 2 w, 3 teen boys, 1 teen girl, (extras: 4 m, 1 w) Plus angelic choir (2 songs)

Owen is disgruntled. It’s time for the annual Christmas pageant and he’s been chosen for the role of a “dumb ole shepherd.” It’s even worse because his older brother will be playing a king carrying a gift of gold and his sister an angel dressed in regal finery. Meanwhile, Owen will be clothed in a “ratty old bathrobe with a towel wrapped around his head” carrying a stick. It just ain’t fair!

While he is stewing over his fate, he drifts off to sleep where he is transported back to the ...

12 pages

6 m, 7 w, 3 flex, 3 g. 2 b, extras.

Easily staged using spotlights. Abia watches with interest when his cousin, Joseph, and his fiancee, Mary, become the talk of the town. From that time, throughout the major events in the life of Christ, Abia is simply a curious spectator. Abia is staying at the inn when Jesus is born. Years later he is also with the caravan that returns to find the missing 12-year-old and hears the bickering that surrounds Jesus' ministry. But later, when Pilate asks, "What will you do with Jesus?" Abia realizes that no one can be just an observer. About 30 minutes.

28 pages

9 m

It’s Christmas Eve, 1944, in the midst of a raging blizzard…and the throes of a battle that is expected to become the last major assault of WWII, the Battle of the Bulge. A small patrol of battle-fatigued American soldiers, who have captured a German SS officer to interrogate, are lost and seek refuge in a bombed-out church somewhere south of Bastogne, Belgium.

Although united in brotherhood through the danger they face, the men are very different; from the tough but well-respected fi...

20 pages

2 m, 3 w, 1 boy, 1 girl

Ted and Jane are hosting Ted’s mother and sister for Christmas. As they share memories of their childhood home (acted out live) it becomes clear that their perspectives about the past are very different. An on-going “falling off the ladder” gag adds to the laughs. Finally, Mom presents them each with a DVD featuring their old home movies. As they watch it together, the realization that perhaps they each had things better than they remember brings a lump to the throat and an appreciation for the value of family. Performing groups can be as creative as desired ...

71 pages

3 m, 5 w, 1 flexible

With just two days to Christmas, all demons are completely swamped with work and cannot take on more. However, Lucy Farr and her assistant Bea L. Zaybub may have to. Their problem is Pauline Salmon, a hard-bitten businesswoman who has been one of Lucy's finest subjects. But the new pastor, Rev. Ledbetter, is praying hard for Pauline as he struggles to make his church viable once again. Meanwhile, bad boy Jamie is trying to turn over a new leaf. Judgmental Pauline treats him badly and in retaliation, he steals from her shop. Escaping, he is run down by the mal...

33 pages

1 m, 2 w

This play deals with the heartache and the trauma of being old, being alone in the world and forgotten. Mrs. Delmonico, a former actress, lives in a tenement building in New York. She exists mostly in her imagination and takes her torment out on her neighbor, Mrs. Quinn. They are unable to get along in any way until this Christmas Eve when Mr. Gartch, one of the roomers whom they have never met, happens upon the scene. He becomes their catalyst - motivating them to look at things differently. Because of his being so positive and hopeful, and because he is ano...

9 pages

7 main characters.

Annie is the saddest-looking angel in Heaven! With a broken wing, a crooked halo, untidy hair, and always a pile of mending to do, she is just too busy to even get to choir rehearsal on time. The angels all know something very, very important is about to happen. When the Heavenly Father chooses Annie to stand guard over his newborn son, all the other angels work hard to get her ready, and most of all, make sure she will be on time. Performance time: 20 minutes.

33 pages

12 flexible plus extras

It is late December and Mr. Barker has sold all of the trees on his lot except for one - a little Christmas tree. It is a snowy evening, and the lonely little tree listens to Christmas carols that are playing in the distance. All of a sudden, an angel appears. He is a rather gruff, street-wise angel-- an angel that used to grace the tops of Christmas trees at Henthorne's Department Store. But this angel has been thrown out because its wing is broken. To cheer the angel up, the little tree tells the angel about this book she’s been reading: the Bible. She shar...

12 pages

1 m, 1 w, extras, non speaking.

Here's an unusual and touching candelight service. Guardian angels Gabriel and Agnes are confused when they hear God is sending the Prince of Peace to earth as a baby. A baby?! No army, no muscle, no clout? Then the Child will certainly need the best home and education to succeed. As they argue over the details, they realize He has already been born. The two angels then help the only way they can. From one stable candle they start lighting candles of the congregation to "light the waiting hearts of all those who stand in the dark." Performance time: About 20 ...

46 pages

7 m, 5 w, 11 teen girls, 3 teen boys.

The Davies’ house is a picture of confusion and complications this Christmas Day with the arrival of various extended family members and guests. No one can find Uncle John, there’s body glitter all over Kelly’s room, Sandy and her daughters have been doing something with feathers in the kitchen, and nobody knows what Nana Jane might do this year! But then a stranger appears who might be Sandy’s new boyfriend, Phil’s old friend from college, or (if we believe Grandpa) the mysterious Uncle Don from the Amazon. The stranger says nothing, and yet his soft smile i...

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...

18 pages

13 speaking parts, extras.

The older angels are preparing for the coming of the Christ Child but the little angels have not been told the great secret and their mischievousness is disturbing. Michael, the littlest one, is the worst! But when the Guardian Angel explains, they are eager to do their share. How Michael is chosen to be the one to accompany Gabriel down to earth makes this a play of beauty and dignity for smaller children.  Performance time: 25 minutes. 

22 pages

3 m, 6 w

The children of the Bucklesbury Bible Church have done a production of a Christmas nativity play for the last 80 years. It is the hottest ticket in town and a huge outreach for the church. When the “Mistletoe Flu,” a contagious virus, locks down the entire county, the Christmas program is in jeopardy. The committee of all church committees holds an online meeting to decide whether to cancel the program. The pastor states the church must still fulfill its mission of spreading the gospel. The decision is made to live feed the program so everyone can...

38 pages

4 m, 4 w [1 is a teenager]

Without their knowledge, the residents of the sleepy country town of Mistletoe Ridge are about to be on national television. When TV producer Nash Adams is stranded in the town and forced to stay at the Pear Tree Inn, he meets the proprietor, Trixiebelle Partridge – and a few other colorful residents who are obsessed with the Christmas holidays. With the Tearjerker Television Network’s failing ratings, Nash Adams realizes that an undercover Christmas special about them would be the perfect solution!

Add in apocal...

28 pages

1 m, 4 w, 1 flexible, 1 boy, 1 girl

If you’ve ever thought that Christmas has become too commercialized (and who among us hasn’t felt that as we pulled out the credit card yet again) this is the play for you. Several customers wander in to a rather bare, nondescript store during the Christmas shopping season. All of them, younger children, teenagers, and twenty-somethings, are looking for the same thing, but for different reasons. Some aren't even sure what they want: they just know that they are missing something. Naomi, the elderly widow working behind the counter, answers their questions kin...

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...

12 pages

Large flexible cast

Preschoolers and children in lower grades will enjoy performing in this gentle and delightful Christmas pageant. Like many mothers of new babies, Mary is having a difficult time getting Baby Jesus to sleep. The wise men, shepherds, angels, lions, sheep, and mice sing their best lullabies, but all in vain. At last, one small, timid, striped kitten sings the Holy Child to sleep. Older children can handle the few speaking roles while any number of younger performers can participate as the animals. Easy costuming and staging and all the songs are traditional, wel...

14 pages

2 m, 3 w

Time has passed. Della and Jim, the young couple from O. Henry's short story, are now elderly. At their yearly Christmas Eve visit to a simple coffee shop, they encounter a melancholy woman. Touched by her sadness, they tell their story in a flashback scene of their first Christmas together when they each sold their most precious possession to buy the other a present. That experience changed forever their idea of buying expensive Christmas gifts. Instead they exchange the most priceless of all, love.

56 pages

11 m, 10 w, extras

This dramatic comedy tells the story of a Christmas in 1938 in the small town of Comfort Falls--population 603. The cream of society is getting ready for their out-of-doors holiday extravaganza at the town bandstand. Then they find out that the local church is planning a "competing" program, their annual Christmas Eve pageant, also at the bandstand on the same night! The society set, lead by the Widow Jeffries, and the church drama troupe, defended by her long-suffering son-in-law Mayor Hoshpepper, are joined by a hilarious group of eccentric townspeople (and...

27 pages

7 m, 2 w, 1 boy, 1 girl.

Here's the story of a mysterious stanger who, one night, changes forever the lives of a small group of stranded travelers. Each traveler has his own fear or weakness. The cripple depends on his crutches to gain sympathy; the woman feels she must wear valuable jewerly to be worthy; the preacher has lost sight of God and can only see as far as his flask; the young husband and wife are running away, afraid to go home again. Charley, the bus station agent, uses tall tales to hide his true soul. Afraid at first of being robbed by this mysterious, bleeding man whos...

14 pages

6 m (doubling possible), 4 w, 2 flexible, 2 teen boys, 2 girls.

The life-size nativity is up once again for public display along a busy sidewalk. Different views of Christmas abound and each will leave their mark on the nativity. Meet the attorney who believes he's well on his way to heaven by his wonderful contributions to society, or the two teenagers who find it hard to fit Jesus into their high-tech world. Cheerful shoppers are sure all the nativity needs is a bit of sprucing up to be appealing, and an apathetic Christian finds it easier to follow than to lead. Unbelief plagues two construction workers who find Jesus ...

19 pages

4 m, 2 w, 1-2 flexible

A reader’s theatre play. Howard Sinclair is ready to direct the church’s outdoor manger pageant again, but since the previous one five years ago was a complete disaster, his wife Gladys wants everything to run smoothly. But of course that doesn’t happen! First the rented animals are delivered a week early, but instead of a camel, a goat is sent and it promptly starts eating the neighbor’s bushes. To appease their prickly neighbor, Howard agrees to let him play the part of a shepherd, even though another church member had been promised the role. Then there’s t...

28 pages

Flexible cast of 23 (Approx. 8 m, 9 w, 2 flexible, 4 children, extras)

The church's Christmas play rehearsal is a disaster. The actors haven't had time to learn their lines and they're tripping and falling over each other. During a much needed break, Wendy, a busy lady playing Mary, complains to the new janitor, an old man, that she feels in all the holiday hustle and bustle she has lost God. He urges Wendy to pray. She does, and with a renewed sense of hope and vigor, calls the rest of the cast back on stage. But a mishap occurs and the janitor is knocked down. As he rises, we see the nail-hole scars in the palms of his hands. ...

44 pages

12 m, 4 w.

When Matthew, the future evangelist, visits Melchior to tell him about the life and death of Jesus, he is surprised that the old Wise Man knows about the Messiah already. Melchior tells Matthew about when he was young and troubled, he and his fellow Magi, Caspar and Balthazar, followed the star to an uncertain destination. Braving deserts, snakes, storms, and treacherous rivers, they struggled with more than the elements. Beset by grave self-doubt, Melchoir nearly gave up along the way. In the process, his travels became an inward journey of discovery as well...

29 pages

20 characters. (2 m, 1 w plus other parts which can be played by males or females.)

Friar Francis and Friar Juniper decide to re-enact the First Nativity for the people of their town at Christmas. They ask the nearby animals if their ancestors were at the First Nativity and could tell them what it was like. They encounter an amusing variety of creatures, reflecting a range of human follies. But the animals they encounter are all too busy with themselves to give Friar Francis what he wants. In despair, Friar Francis lies down for a nap. As he sleeps it is disclosed that Friar Juniper and all the animals have secretly been rehearsing for weeks...

56 pages

6 m, 5 w, 1 extra, 1 boy, 1 girl

Grandpa, along with Luke, Ellen, and their two teens, fly to Texas to celebrate Christmas with the rest of the family. Grandpa's other son is a real down-home cowboy, and, unbeknownst to everyone else, has recently gotten married. His new wife, a former New Yorker and Jewish, is a recent convert to Christianity. She very likeable, but the family can't understand half the words she's saying! Even more puzzling is her teenage son, who misses the big city, resists speaking to anyone, and is on a "religious break." Family confusion rises to new heights when Grand...