Christmas

56 pages

5 m, 5 w, extra children

Ray awakens from a coma to learn that the country is celebrating Christmas every month, (Hanukkah every quarter), in order to stimulate the economy. “A Christmas Carol” is constantly playing at the local community theatre, Christmas lights blaze all night, and there’s enough fruitcake to choke a camel. Ray himself is different and his bitter attitude is affecting his fiancée, Mary. When she expresses her frustration with not being able to stop the multiple Christmases, and more importantly, with Ray’s behavior, he pulls a stunt that lands him in jail. There h...

35 pages

4 m, 7 w, 3 children.

Charity Magazine has chosen the Stetson family for an "at home Christmas" article. The family is well known: mother Monica is a children's author; Cody a soap opera actor; Brad a high-profile attorney; and Mallory a pediatrician. As the interview nears, however, the family makes a shocking discovery - that both Mallory and Cody are alcoholics. In fact, while the family looks so perfect on the outside, all they feel on the inside is emptiness. It is the reporter, who reminds them of Jesus' love and the critical needs of a children's shelter, who starts the fam...

25 pages

5 m, 8 w, 5 children.

The angels who announced the coming of the Messiah proclaimed it first to some simple shepherds abiding in the fields. Here is a very special Christmas play that reminds us that sometimes the church must reach out to those in the streets around us. Bo Miles, a new Christian with a worldly past, is anxious to help with the church's outdoor nativity. The other members, who feel too busy to help, are glad to let Bo handle the job until his disreputable street friends create problems. But Bo shows everyone the true mission of the church and at the end, the local ...

24 pages

2 m, 1 w, 5 children.

The Rev. Robert Harper came out West to serve the needs of other pioneer settlers, but he and his wife, Sarah, find their faith wavering. Finally, in the midst of a terrible snowstorm on Christmas Eve, after having attended to an ill woman, Robert and Sarah concede that they were naive in thinking they could withstand the harsh living conditions for themselves and their three children as well as spiritually uplift the other settlers, too. But when a neighbor goes to great trouble to deliver an unexpected box from back East, a box filled with warm clothes, foo...

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...

65 pages

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

A unique and relevant holiday drama that tells the story of a newly formed, mixed-religion family and the sometimes humorous, sometimes tense conflicts that arise during the Christmas/Hanukkah season. Sam, a Christian, and Michelle, a Jew, agreed when they married that, even though neither was especially religious, they would continue to celebrate the holidays the way their kids were used to. But it may not be that simple. Sam has a 13-year-old daughter, Marie, who is about to be confirmed. Michelle has a 17-year-old son, VJ, who rejects religion in favor of ...

20 pages

5 m, 5 w, 1 boy, 1 girl, extra teens as youth group.

Elizabeth, pregnant with her third child, blames God for the recent car accident which killed her husband, Mark, a young minister. Distraught and grief-stricken, Elizabeth even contemplates giving up the baby for adoption. Her parents, strong Christians, reach out, but nothing helps until their pastor brings a special young woman to visit. The last person to see Mark alive, she tells about the healing comfort he gave her and her husband in the hospital on the death of their infant. The faith of those around her gives Elizabeth the courage to go on. "Unto us a...

46 pages

6 boys, 5 girls, and 3 flexible parts, choir

Young people will respond to and telling the Christmas story from a different viewpoint make this musical one you'll remember. The story is about a grandfather, a Rabbi, and a young boy and his friends who come face-to-face with the promised Messiah. You will be moved as Rabbi Yarvich cries out to hear God's voice in "Jehovah." You will smile and laugh as the spirit of greed overtakes young Levi and his friends as they sing "Jingle, Jangle." But your heart will melt as Levi sings "Could It Be True," a song longing to believe the prophets of old when they fore...

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...

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

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.

17 pages

1 m, 2 w, 5 flexible, 6 boys, 2 girls, extras.

The church children are practicing for the Christmas program when Katie asks Pastor Steve if they are going to do the program just once at the church. Katie wants her grandmother, who lives at Green Hills Convalescent Center, to see it. Pastor Steve hurriedly arranges for the play to be performed at the center, but Katie is upset when she learns her grandmother won't attend because she hates Christmas. A heartwarming ending to this Christmas drama shows us Christ's love. Performance time: About 50 minutes with suggested songs.

27 pages

3 m, 2 w, 1 girl, carolers if desired.

The family is trying to ready the barn for the annual nativity scene, but no one feels much like celebrating since Brenda has just suffered a miscarriage. Eleven-year-old Anna Bell is taking it the hardest, especially since her favorite cat, Glory Excelsis, has been missing for days, too. But Sarah, a wise mother, comforts the family when she makes them realize that God must have known sadness when He sent His only Son to earth. That's why Christmas should be celebrated, to thank Him for His great gift. A warm and wonderful story with optional nativity ending...

37 pages

4 m, 3 w, 4 flexible parts.

Dylan and Tyler Shepherd, brothers whose arguing finally stopped when they were brought together one Christmas (see "The Shepherds Who Gather"), are back in this sequel. It's five years later and now they are working together on a Christian TV show. Unfortunately, the station has a new owner, Tabitha Rafferty, to whom ratings are more important than people or their priorities. She has little sympathy for Dylan whose wife has recently died, leaving him to raise their young son alone. But Christmas is a time of giving. Some unusual "gifts" given by some unlikel...

29 pages

9 flexible parts, approx. 3 m, 5 w, 1 child.

Linda is worried because her recently widowed mother, Susan, is adamant about staying in her Florida condominium rather than coming up north to celebrate the holiday. Linda decides she and her husband and children better see what's wrong, even if it means they won't be celebrating Christmas the "right way" with all the familiar traditions. And non-traditional it is! Instead of warm fires and sled rides the kids are sunbathing and riding jet skis. But when Linda objects because her mother may miss Christmas Eve services, she finds the real and generous reason ...