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    3 One Act Christian Plays
    3 One Act Christian Plays
    3 One Act Christian Plays
    Ebook85 pages1 hour

    3 One Act Christian Plays

    By William Kritlow

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    About this ebook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWilliam Kritlow
    Release dateAug 16, 2011
    ISBN9781452481517
    3 One Act Christian Plays
    Author

    William Kritlow

    Indiana born, California raised, a Christian at 9, a returning prodigal at 37, I published my first books with Thomas Nelson Publishing Company when I was 50 and now have 7 novels in print, and a number of non-fiction books, some with, some without my name on them. I'm currently pioneering a Theater Arts Program for adults and children in Fountain Valley, CA. God is working faithfully in His children's lives. My passion is to explore His love and grace.

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      Book preview

      3 One Act Christian Plays - William Kritlow

      Three One Act Christian Plays

      Gold Rush (Yukon Gold Rush)

      The Serf and the Knight Templar (Medieval Period)

      Wagons West (American Westward Migration - 1846)

      William Kritlow

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2011 William Kritlow

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Additional Permissions: If you purchase a copy for each cast member each play may be presented at least three times within a year from purchase of the cast member copies. If you have any questions or concerns about this, email: mailto:billkritlow@gmail.com

      Cover Art by Sally Truong: mailto:sally@inkit-printing.com

      <<<<<<>>>>>>

      Table of Contents

      Author's Introduction

      These are three one act plays, each set in a different historic period, each attempting to look at that period through unique and very Christian eyes. How might you use them? Read the introduction for some thoughts on that.

      <<<>>>

      Gold Rush

      Is Gold worth whatever hardships you have to endure to find it? Is it worth it to the children who suddenly find their lives thrown into chaos as parents pursue the elusive color? We're in Dawson City, Yukon Territory, November 1896. Three months before, in August, George Carmack’s wife, Kate, while washing up after a supper on the Rabbit Creek found a gold nugget the size of her thumb. And the Yukon Gold Rush was on. Caught up in it were a number of children. This is their story

      Scene One

      We meet the kids, particularly Rascal Waters, who believes his future rests on the gold his father will find

      Scene Two

      The Kids all have dreams of what the gold will buy then, Sarah, however wants something very special, something gold could never buy.

      Scene Three

      Rascal find out that there are something things Gold buys the nobody wants, especially him.

      <<<>>>

      The Serf and the Knight Templar

      It’s 1350. The black death ravages most of Europe and the Feudal System is firmly entrenched but is under pressure. That system creates a predominant class of workers, the serfs, who are neither slave nor free. They are yoked to a section of land assigned them by the Lord of the Manor. They keep for their families a good portion of what the land produces, but they are also required to work three days a week for the manor. But with the death of so many workers, there’s pressure for the serf’s to spend more time at the manor at the expense of their one land. This is the story of Robert and his family, and how he meets the challenge - with the help of Sir Strong, one of the last of the Knight Templar.

      Scene One

      Lord Tarreyton orders Robert to work 5 days a week at the manor. Robert refuses and gets help from an unexpected source.

      Scene Two

      Lord T returns with a crew of ruffians to drag Robert to work, but Sir Strong fights them off. Is Robert now in full rebellion? Lord T has too much to lose to just let it go.

      Scene Three

      Robert has a difficult choice to make. He’s not a slave but he also has a family who needs him. And if he fights, he can’t win. Should he capitulate? Or does God have other plans for him?

      Scene Four

      As it turns out, God does have other plans.

      <<<>>>

      Wagons West

      1846 finds the Roberts family, Sam, Nora, Junior (14), Elizabeth (12) and Harriet (8), as part of a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. Although a hard trip, one that’s already seen the death of a neighbor’s child, the Roberts are bearing up. But that changes quickly when one morning Elizabeth and Harriet leave camp to pick berries. Elizabeth returns and Harriet doesn’t. They got separated and now Harriet is lost. The Captain of the Wagon Train organizes a search, but Harriet isn’t found. Now the Wagon Train needs to move on. Will the Roberts move with it? And does the story end there?

      Scene One

      We meet the Roberts family on the Oregon Trail as a storm moves in to delay them yet again.

      Scene Two

      Acting on a suggestion from Sam, their father, Elizabeth and Harriet go out for berries. Harriet doesn’t return and the initial search yields nothing. Captain Bertram allows an hour’s search.

      Scene Three

      Harriet isn’t found and Sam, for the sake of his family, has to make an impossible decision.

      Scene Four

      About a week or so later, Nora and Sam face what’s happened.

      Scene Five (a month later)

      The Wagon Train, with the Roberts family, has reached Fort Hall, the gateway to the trail’s final steps. While they take advantage of the Fort, the unthinkable happens.

      Scene Six

      The unthinkable yields some unexpected outcomes.

      Back to Top

      <<<<<<>>>>>>

      Author’s Introduction

      I received an email from a writer friend of mine, Sibella Giorello, who told me that a home school group she was associated with liked the students to perform historical dramas as part of the history curriculum. She also let it slip that they were looking for new stuff, particular with a focus on the Yukon Gold Rush. Not one to pass up a new venue, I got on my trusty computer and wrote Gold Rush, a one act with a performance time of about a half hour. She then told me her son was studying the

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