That said, I have no experience writing plays. Well, that's not true. I write one act plays for Father's Day that have never been produced and have only been read by Ben. How's that for credentials! This has never been staged. It might be a disaster!
Having issued that disclaimer, I'm making this available for anyone who wants to use it. I've licensed it with Creative Commons with a license that allows for adaptation so long as it includes the original attribution. Here's that info:
The Best Story: An Imperfect Christmas Eve Pageant by Katherine Willis Pershey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Basically: have at it. If it seems like parts of it would work for your church, go for it. There are definitely parts of this that are written very specifically for my context. Change it however you see fit. Pass it along. Have fun. I'm super excited to get started on the production piece of this in the weeks to come, and hope it works on the stage.
Merry Early Christmas!
The Best Story: An Imperfect Christmas Eve Pageant EDITED TO ADD: I would love to know if your church or school is producing this. Leave me a comment or send me an email, please. :) katherinepershey at gmail dot com.
This is great! Awesome use of your writing skills!
ReplyDeleteI love this! My Education Board is meeting tonight and on the agenda is Christmas program planning. I could play you..."Hey, I just had a baby..." ha, ha. I'm just afraid we have to many little, little people and not enough readers, but we'll see.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
You could always have adults be readers, friend. And who says there can't be seven cows in the manger? This is a "make it work" kind of play. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this!!!! You have a gift Katherine!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm a lurker here, reading often but not commenting often at all. I'm a solo pastor of a small PC(USA) church in Southwest Wyoming, and I just wanted you to know that this Sunday our young people will be making a very energetic and enthusiastic offering of "The Best Story" - with appropriate attribution, of course :) This is the first time they've taken on a program like this because in previous years we just haven't had the youth to pull it off. They are so very excited, and if the rehearsals are any indication, the offering will be just perfect.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the gracious way in which you share your gifts with Christ's church.
Kimberly, you're welcome! And thanks so much for letting me know your youth are putting this on. It makes me incredibly happy that the resource is being put to good use. We're doing our pageant on Christmas Eve, and I hope it is also energetic and enthusiastic and just perfect!
ReplyDeleteIf you happen to get a video of your pageant, I would love to see it. :)
We used this today! Thank you so much for providing this. It worked beautifully for us. My congregation was sure that I had added the line about just having had a baby this year. :)
ReplyDeleteI saw some parents with cameras, but I don't know if anyone videotaped it. I'll ask.
Thank you Katherine. As you know, FCCP performed your play today and it was wonderful -- perfect for a more relaxed
ReplyDeletesetting after last night's traditional candlelight service. Unfortunately too many of our children went over the clouds and through the streets to Grandparents' house. But some adults enjoyed acting like children so a good time was had by all. You will get to hear our Three Wise Bobs sing a song that Julie Jolly and Bob B. wrote, on the video Susan is sending to you. Christmas blessings to You and Yours!
I can't wait to read your book!