3 One Act Christian Plays

For theater or the classroom, these are three historical one act Christian plays.
The first is Gold Rush. Set in Dawson City, Yukon Territory, in 1896, this play examines one of histories great Gold Rushes from the perspective of the children dragged into this explosive historical moment by their gold seeking parents. Promised that gold would give them anything they could ever want, these children come face to face with what the love of gold truly buys.
The next is The Serf and the Knight Templar. It’s 1350, the waning years of the Middle Ages, and the black plague is killing off half of Europe. Robert is a serf - neither slave nor free - and he’s been ordered by the Lord of the Manor to work the Lord’s land at the expense of his own. If he complies, his wife and children starve. If he doesn’t, he dies. Robert’s situation looks hopeless until aging Sir Strong, Knight Templar, a man living on fading ideals and past glories, comes to his aid. Together they face an enemy who can’t afford to lose.
Wagons West - 1846 and the wagons are on the move. The Roberts family, Sam, Nora and three children ride one of them and they’re heading to Oregon. About two months out, their youngest goes out to pick berries and doesn’t return. Now they face an unfathomable decision, go with the train that must leave so they can get to the mountains before the snow flies, or stay and search for their daughter and face certain death. This play takes a look at the real pressures that shaped the lives of these brave pioneers and the impossible choices they often had to make. And the God who sustains, comforts, and leads.
In a school or home school venue, these plays can be performed as traditional productions or in a “reader’s theater” format. In either case, it should help students learn. I know I seldom forget a fact in a play or movie, but can’t, for the life of me, remember anything in a text book.
But these plays weren’t written just to convey historical facts; I wanted to bring history alive from a Christian perspective. God was at work then, just as he was at the dawn of creation; just as he is now. And it’s fun to see Him alive and well through history’s lens. And even more fun to write a play about Him. Each era had its own set of issues, its own set of characters, and the same God working with his people helping them to victory. These plays put the audience and/or the students into the character’s lives, and nose to nose with choices those characters were sometimes forced to make and the consequences they experienced. Drama, like nothing else, allows us to engage in the times, and be buffeted by the emotional forces at work. And, of course, all this serves to give us added, and more resilient armor to face today’s spiritual warfare.
There’s another reason to read, or perform these plays. They’re plays, and that’s what you do with plays, and I believe, these plays will engage an audience well. And as such, they will act as a vehicle for just about any theater group, any age, Christian or not - although the Christian messages are vivid and unmistakeable.
These plays can also act as templates for your own imaginations. I strongly believe a drama ministry is important to a church. These plays give you an idea of what we’ve done and should encourage you to create your own, plays that may be more meaningful and appropriate in your church then these may be.
With your purchase of this ebook, and additional copies for each member of the cast, I give you permission to put on that particular play on as often as you like for a year from the purchase date.