Description
God’s perfect plan of creation provided all humans could ever long for.
But man’s sin lost him the right to enjoy the bounty God had provided. God tried through the Garden of Eden, Noah and the flood, Moses in the wilderness, to lead man back to him. But nothing was successful, man still went his sinful way.
So God devised his perfect, painful plan, to send his own son to earth, to be a perfect sacrifice for sin. And in this 9 scene drama we visit Nazareth, the Upper Room, Gethsemane and the tomb to see just how far God has gone to win back the gem of his creation which he made in his own image.
Written as an Easter presentation but could be for any time, including dinner theatre.
Cast: 34+
- Narrator
- VOG (Voice of God) offstage
- Gabriel the angel
- Adam
- Eve
- Serpent
- Noah
- Moses
- Mary
- Joseph
- Zechariah
- Elizabeth
- (6) friends and family of Mary & Joseph
- Jesus
- (12) disciples
- Thief 1
- Thief 2
- Mary (sister of Lazarus)
- Martha (sister of Lazarus)
- Centurion
- plus any number of extras for crowd
- NOTE many of these roles could be combined
Bible Reference:
- Genesis, Exodus, and the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Set:
- very little is necessary, but can be made as elaborate as desired
- Scene I – Garden of Eden should have meadow backdrop
- Scene VIII – Upper Room / Tomb a large table, also an open tomb (optional)
Lighting:
- spotlights to isolate sections of the stage
Sound: wireless mics if available
Song:
- In the Beginning was the Word
- Copyright © 1999 Elton Smith and Larry Holder
- Some lyrics written by DramaShare
- He is there for you
- Copyright © 2008 Peter Gringhuis and Larry Holder
- I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked
- Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?
- Christ the Lord is Risen Today by Charles Wesley
SFX:
- Garden of Eden scenes, and many other visuals as indicated in script
Costumes:
- traditional, as appropriate
Props:
- large book and chair for narrator
- apples for Garden of Eden
- gift for Nazareth scene
- table, food and drink, basin and towels for upper room
Special Instructions: none
Time: 120
Sample of script:
Scene I – In the beginning, Garden of Eden
Narrator comes on stage, tight spotlight, carrying a large book, reads
Narrator: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
soft lights up on stage left where angel Gabriel is standing
VOG: Gabriel!
Gabriel falls to his face
VOG: Gabriel, answer me!
Gabriel, frightened, slowly gets to his knees, looks down
Gabriel: Yes, Yahweh.
VOG: Look upward Gabriel, I would show you my plan.
Gabriel, hesitatingly looks upward:
Your plan Yahweh?
VOG: I shall create the heaven and the earth – all you see, and all you don’t see.
SFX: projected image of boiling blackness on screen
VOG: Earth is now a sea of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness.
My Spirit longs for creating order out of chaos, a plan for the future, for all time.
SFX: a beam of light gradually expanding from the center of the blackness
VOG: And so I declare that there will be . . “Light!”
intense light in center of blackness
VOG: That light is good . .
and now we will separate light from dark.
We name the light . . . Day,
And we name the dark . . . Night.
sky and fluffy white clouds gradually expand from the center
VOG: Sky! In the middle of the waters;
separate water from water!
Narrator: And God made sky.
He separated the water under sky
from the water above sky.
And there it was. . .
VOG: We will name sky . . the Heavens.
while sky shows, land with lake gradually moves up from bottom of screen to where sky and land are equal
VOG: Separate!
Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place;
Land, appear!
Narrator: And there it was, the land and the water.
VOG: We will name the land . . . Earth.
And we will name the pooled water . . . Ocean.
And it is all good.
Gabriel, smiling: Very good indeed, mighty Yahweh!
SFX scene with grass, trees, lake and sky
VOG: Earth, green up! Grow all varieties
of seed-bearing plants,
Every sort of fruit-bearing tree.
Narrator: And there it was.
Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,
all varieties,
And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts.
God saw that it was good.
VOG: Lights! Come out!
Shine in Heaven’s sky!
Separate Day from Night.
Mark seasons and days and years,
Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.
Narrator: And there it was.
God made two big lights, the larger
to take charge of Day,
SFX. screen fades to full dark, gradually night sky with moon and stars
Narrator: The smaller to be in charge of Night;
and he made the stars.
VOG: I will place the Light in the heavenly sky to light up Earth
And oversee Day and Night,
to separate light and dark.
It is . . good.
Gabriel: Amazingly good, oh Mighty Yahweh!
SFX screen shows mighty ocean with whales, fish. sky above filled with birds
VOG: Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!
Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!
We will create the huge whales,
all the swarm of life in the waters,
And every kind and species of flying birds.
Gabriel: It is good, Oh Mighty Maker of all creation!
VOG: We bless you all!
Now prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Ocean!
And you birds, reproduce on Earth!
SFX various scenes of animals roaming
VOG: Earth, now generate life! Generate every sort and kind:
cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.
Narrator: And there it was:
wild animals of every kind,
Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug.
VOG: It is good, . . very good indeed.
But now let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself,
and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.
Narrator: And so God created human beings;
he created them godlike,
Reflecting God’s own nature.
He created them male and female.
And God blessed them . .
VOG: Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.
I’ve given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
given them to you for food.
To all animals and all birds,
everything that moves and breathes,
I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.
Narrator: And there it was.
God looked over everything he had made;
it was so good, . . . so very good!
SFX. lights up 25% on center stage where the backdrop shows a meadow scene, Adam is laying unnoticed on the ground
Narrator: And so God had triumphed in creating the heavens and the earth
And he had placed on earth, in control of all . .
the jewel of his creation . .. .
Man!
God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!
Then God planted a garden in Eden. He put the Man he had just made in it.
Adam rises, walks around, admiring all
Narrator: God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat.
The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil.
VOG: Adam, you may eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. You must not eat from it or you will die!
Adam nods head in understanding
VOG: It is not good for the Man to be alone; I will make a helper for you, . . a companion.
lights out at center stage
Narrator: So God put Adam into a deep sleep.
As Adam slept God removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh.
God then used the rib that he had taken from Adam to make Woman.
And God presented her to Adam.
lights up at center stage, Eve walks on stage
Adam: Bone of my bone,
flesh of my flesh!
Name her Woman
for she was made from Man.
Adam and Eve walk hand in hand, enjoying all around them
Narrator: And the two lived together happily in the Garden of Eden
Enjoying life, amid abundance.
Adam leaves the stage, Serpent comes on stage
Narrator: Among all the animals which God had created, none was more clever than the serpent.
Serpent, to Eve: Do you really believe God told Adam not to eat from any tree in the garden?
Eve: Not at all. Of course we can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, “Don’t eat from it or you’ll die.”
Serpent, laughs mockingly: Foolish woman! You won’t die. The reason God told Adam that is God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything.
Eve, eyes the tree: Well, the tree does look good, and it would be good to know everything!
Serpent hands Eve the apple, she hesitates then takes a bite, big smile, eats apple
Adam comes on stage, sees Eve eating apple, Serpent tries to hide
Adam: Eve! . . You know God warned us not to eat from that tree!
Eve: But the serpent told me that there was no reason not to eat. . . and the apple was . . delicious . . and just look at me . . I am fine, I didn’t die!
Serpent: Listen to your wife, the wife whom God gave you! . . (hands Adam an apple) . . Take, eat!
Adam and Eve are enjoying the apple, serpent is chuckling behind their backs
they “hear” something, react in fear
Adam: It is God walking in the garden . . quickly . . hide!
Serpent, Adam and Eve try to hide
VOG: Adam . .. Eve . . . Where are you?
Adam: I heard you in the garden and I was afraid.
VOG, angry: You ate from the tree which I forbade you!
Adam, afraid: It was the fault of the woman you gave me as a companion! It was she who gave me the fruit from the tree, she told me to eat, and, yes, I ate it.
VOG, to Eve: What is this evil thing that you’ve done?
Eve: Please, it wasn’t my fault, it was the serpent who insisted that I eat the fruit.
VOG, to serpent: For this terrible thing you have done, you will forever be cursed,
Cursed to slink on your belly
and eat dirt all your life.
And you, woman!
For spoiling our relationship,
I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth;
you’ll give birth to your babies in pain.
And . . you . . Man!
Because you listened to your wife and not to God,
And you ate from the tree
That I commanded you not to eat from,
The very ground is cursed because of you;
Therefore getting food from the ground
Will be as painful for you as having babies is for your wife;
You shall work in pain all your life long.
The ground that you till will sprout thorns and weeds,
you will be forced to get your food the hard way,
Planting and tilling and harvesting,
sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk,
Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried;
you started out as dirt, you’ll end up dirt.
Narrator: So God expelled all of them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt from which God had made them.
God anger burned that his creation would reject his perfect plan. . . .
But more, his heart sorrowed!
