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61112
WELCOMING THE KING
by John
Cosper
GENRE: Comedy/Biblical
TIME: 6 minutes
CAST BREAKDOWN: 6M, 4F
THEME: Palm Sunday
CHURCH YEAR SEASON: Easter
SUGGESTED USE: Children's Worship Service; Worship Service
CHARACTERS:
Naphtali—a kid selling palm branches
Aaron—the little boy whose donkey Jesus borrows
Gloria, Hannah, Diana—Aaron's sisters
John, Dan, Mary, Michael and Adam—other kidsSYNOPSIS: A group of children discover that the family donkey is carrying Jesus into Jerusalem, so they and their friends get palm branches to welcome him.
PROPS: Palm branches
COSTUMES: Biblical dress
SOUND: 2 wireless mics
LIGHTING: General stage
SETTING: The streets of Jerusalem
SCRIPTURE: Luke 19:28–38
NAPHTALI is selling a basket full of palm branches. GLORIA and her sisters enter.
NAPHTALI: Palm branches! Palm branches for sale! Get your palm leaves right here.
GLORIA: Naphtali?
NAPHTALI: Hi, Gloria, wanna buy a palm branch?
GLORIA: Why would I want to buy a palm branch?
NAPHTALI: Why wouldn't you want one? They're beautiful, aesthetically pleasing and they are a symbol of peace.
HANNAH: What's "aesthetically" mean?
DIANA: I dunno.
GLORIA: That may all be true, Naphtali, but considering palm trees grow around this area, why would I want to buy one?
NAPHTALI: Aha! Because all the palm branches are on palm trees just south of town. You'd have to walk an hour to get one for yourself, or for a small coin, you could get one from me. I'm simply bringing the product to the people.
GLORIA: Ha! Good luck selling a single one.
AARON enters.
GLORIA: There he is. Come on, girls.
GLORIA, HANNAH, and DIANA walk to AARON.
GLORIA: Okay, rug rat. What did you do with Carmen?
AARON: Huh?
GLORIA: Our donkey? We’ve never even ridden her. Now we’ll never get to.
HANNAH: Diana and I saw you leave the house with her this morning.
DIANA: We want to know what you did with her!
AARON: None of your business.
GLORIA: (Grabs AARON by the collar) What do you mean none of your business?
GLORIA: Dad told me not to tell you.
HANNAH: Dad sent you out?
DIANA: Oh no! He sold Carmen to the glue maker!
HANNAH: How could you?
AARON: I didn't sell her to the glue maker!
GLORIA: Then where is Carmen?
AARON: I told you, I'm not supposed to say.JOHN, DAN and MARY enter and mime talk to NAPHTALI while the main conversation continues.
GLORIA: Aaron, look around you. There are one, two, three big sisters all standing over you right now. And you have, oh look, one of you. ONE of you. Now we can do this the easy way (Tightens her grip) or the fun way!
AARON: Please, please don't! Dad made me promise not to tell you. I would tell you if I could.
HANNAH: You can tell us. We're you're sisters. We can keep a secret.
AARON: All right, I'll tell you. Dad had me take Carmen out near the city gate.
GLORIA: And you left him there?
AARON: No. This man came along and untied her and
took her with him.
HANNAH: A man?
AARON: Dad said a man would come along and get Carmen, and when he did, he would tell me "The Lord needs her."
DIANA: The Lord needs her? What was he, a priest?
AARON: No. He was… I can't say!
GLORIA: Yes you can! Just speak!
AARON: He was… a disciple… a disciple of… (Whispers in GLORIA's ear)
GLORIA: (Shouts) Jesus?JOHN, DAN and MARY overhear the name Jesus.
DIANA: Jesus?
HANNAH: Jesus?
AARON: Jesus!
GLORIA: What does Jesus need with Carmen?
AARON: Because he's coming into town this afternoon.
HANNAH: Jesus is coming here?
DIANA: And you weren't going to tell us?
JOHN: Excuse me, did someone say something about Jesus?
GLORIA: Do you know him?
MARY: Know him? He healed my cousin last year. She had been crippled since birth, and he allowed her to walk!
GLORIA: Well guess what? He's coming into town today!
DIANA: Riding on our donkey Carmen!
DAN: Wait ‘til we tell the guys!MICHAEL and ADAM run on.
MICHAEL: What's going on?
ADAM: Did you say you had news for us?
JOHN: Jesus is coming into Jerusalem this afternoon!
HANNAH: Guys, we should make a welcome for him! Something big! Something fit for a king!
DIANA: I know! I can play my trumpet for him! I love
playing music.
GLORIA: Diana, the idea is to welcome him, not chase him back out of town.
JOHN: We could offer him the key to the city.
ADAM: Nah, we don't have time for that. Besides, I don't think the Roman government is gonna help us with that.
MICHAEL: I know! We could throw a parade! We'll get marching bands, floats, mounted police officers and giant balloons. It will be like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
HANNAH: What's the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?
MICHAEL: An annual event that takes place on Thanksgiving morning in New York City that marks the start of the winter holidays that won't actually begin for another 1900 years, but that's not important right now. We've got to book the bands, build some floats, inflate the balloons and… maybe we don't have the time for that.
DIANA: There must be something we can do.
MARY: Right. We need to think of something simple, but meaningful. Something to show that we know Jesus is God's son. The Prince of Peace.
GLORIA: If only we had a red carpet to lay out for him.
DAN: Or if not a red carpet, something beautiful and aesthetically pleasing that symbolizes peace.
Short pause. NAPHTALI smiles a knowing smile.
NAPHTALI: Palm branches! Get your palm branches! Don't be the only one not prepared for the entry of the Prince of Peace in Jerusalem!
AARON: What do you guys think?
GLORIA: Palm branches? Do you think that will be okay?
JOHN: Sure. Why else would they call it Palm Sunday?
The kids all go and buy palm branches, then get ready to sing. NAPHTALI thanks each customer in turn. HANNAH is the last.
HANNAH: Naphtali?
NAPHTALI: Yes?
HANNAH: What does "aesthetically pleasing" mean?
NAPHTALI: I dunno, but it makes for good advertising copy.
HANNAH and NAPHTALI line up with the other kids to sing.
Lights out.
DIRECTING: WELCOMING THE KING
Knowing how to direct the focus of an audience is an essential tool for clarity in drama. A scene cannot be communicated clearly if an audience is confused as to where to look or who is speaking. Welcoming the King offers a wonderful opportunity for a director to really practice the skill of directing focus. This drama has a lot of characters, and actors will have to be given specific timing to know when they will go from being background spectators to principle players. Actors tend to want to be in the limelight the entire time on stage, so they may have to be lovingly reminded to keep their movements small and their voices hushed while they are not delivering lines in the script. However, they will have to be acutely aware of the timing of the drama to be ready to turn into the scene as soon as their lines begin. Eventually, blocking should become so fluid that the transition as one group of actors enters while another turns away will look like a ballet. Just keep in mind that some prima donnas may need more reminding than others that if they try to steal focus they will end up robbing the audience of a concise, clear drama.
Acting Exercise: I've Got to Sing!
This drama reads like the scene from a 1940s Broadway musical where every character is a fast-talking dreamer forcefully pursuing his or her objectives no matter what the cost. Try having some fun and rehearse the scene by having the actors sing their lines. It's not important whether or not they can carry a tune. The object of this exercise is to get the feeling of the music in their bodies to see how it motivates them. Try singing it through in different styles of music: opera, rock & roll, jazz. Each genre of music will lend an entirely different feel to the scene, and may actually feel like a different story altogether! Beyond the sheer enjoyment of really having fun with this exercise, actors will be forced to move differently and use their voices in ways that they wouldn't normally use them while speaking.Intentions and delivery of lines will also be affected, with very organic and captivating results. Natural choreography might develop that can be used as a basis for final blocking. Whatever the results, this exercise is a raucous way to get actors to be alive in a moment rather than repeating their lines in the same stale fashion over and over again.
Staging Notes:
In a scene with a lot of characters, levels are the key to creating
an interesting stage picture.
By placing some of your characters on a riser or a stage that is higher or lower than other characters, you are providing visual contrast for an audience. Nothing is more static and dull to watch than a stage with a line of solid actors in a row. Try placing Naphtali on a riser that is situated higher or lower than the rest of the actors on the stage. This variance in level will allow that actor to "fade into the woodwork" while the other actors are on stage, because the audience will focus on where the action is naturally if their eye level is on par with that of the action. Another interesting point to note is that if an actor has to cross the stage, it is a stronger movement to have the actor walk from left to right (audience left to right, not stage left to stage right) than vice-versa. Why? Because people read left to right, and our eyes are accustomed to making that motion thousands of times a day. Levels deal with a similar physiology and should be used to their maximum advantage in this scene.
“Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"… "Hosanna in the highest." Mark 11:9 NIV
thoughts from the PASTOR
The children in Welcoming the King are buzzing with excitement and are truly overjoyed about the prospect of Jesus visiting Jerusalem. They are all about trying to find a way to celebrate his entrance and worship him in a way that glorifies who he is. A parallel for our time occurs every Sunday when we gather to worship and practice Sabbath. For this is the time when Jesus enters our Sanctuary and we are brought into the presence of the living God.
We need to learn how to emulate the joy and exuberance of these glee-filled children. It is true that worshipping the Lord and King is a serious business and we need to always remember he is sovereign and holy, but this does not mean that in our awe we throw joy and delight out the window. The children in our sketch grasped a fundamental truth of not only worship but also living out our Christian faith—it is not about us but it is entirely about God. Worship is not about style preference or about what is "aesthetically pleasing" but about how we acknowledge that God sits enthroned and has bestowed Sabbath as a gift on us. We cease our work and enjoy the island in time that he has graciously given us.
Our worship needs to be as unfettered and simple as the palm branches that were strewn on the stones entering into Jerusalem. In humility we approach the throne of God, throwing away our preferences and pride, waving our palm branches wildly and gleefully shouting "Hosanna!" and "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" Let us be like children with no expectation but to see the glory of God. Let us enter into the sanctuary with anticipation and gladness of heart.
Study/Discussion Questions: 1. In this sketch, how do you see the idea of worship
revealed?
2. Do you experience Sabbath? How? If not, why not?
3. Why is the simple palm branch and its use so
important in the children's understanding and
implementation of celebrating Christ's entry? What
does this mean for your own understanding of the
worship experience?
4. Is it important to be "aesthetically pleasing"?
Why or why not?
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Performance and photocopying rights:
Your purchase of this script grants your church unlimited use of these sketches within your programs and worship services. You may photocopy the script for each cast member in your church. Scripts and performance rights are not transferable between churches and cannot be resold. You may not use the sketches for any commercial or fundraising purpose, and usage rights do not extend to video, radio, television or film.Copyright © 2003 by John Cosper