THE MANGER!

Type:

Christmas skit for children

Language

Bilingual (Chichewa and English)

Length:

20 minutes

Characters:

Narrator
Guitarist/ Keyboardist
Mary
Joseph
Innkeeper
Shepherds
Wise Men
Choir

Two who will tell the whole story

To support the narrators
Mother of the baby Jesus
Marys husband and protector
Innkeeper in Bethlehem
Group of shepherds who saw the angels in
Bethlehem
E n t o u r a ge o f t h e W i s e M e n
W h o wi l l a l s o pl a y t h e A n ge l s

Description:

The actors tell the story of Baby JESUS birth in Bethlehem from the point of
view of the characters they portray. They are introduced to the stage by the
guitarist/ keyboardist and the narrator, who also takes the leading role of the
play. In general they pose the question Why the manger? How could a King be
born in such a place Then they try to answer that question from their
perspective and relate it to different characteristics of people in the current age.
They attempt to explain that Jesus was born in a cold, dirty and dark place and
thats exactly the type of place that he is born in, in our hearts.

Setting:

Ancient Israel.

Costumes:

In general should resemble costumes from ancient Israel. (Robes, large pieces of
fabric tied at waist, sandals or bare feet, and pieces of fabric for head coverings.)
Mary may have a pillow for part of the play in order to appear to be expecting a
baby. Shepherds should have really dirty clothes. Wise men should be very
exclusive. Narrators and Instrumentalists should be dressed alike like monks.
Choir to be in white robs or sheets.

Lights:

Flash light for the star that the wise men follow (optional)

Sound:

One centre microphone. Cordless microphone for the narrators. Guitar/

Keyboard.

Props:

Manger, Straw, Live Goat, logs, Gifts Wrapped, Torch

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THE MANGER!
[GUITARIST and NARRATOR walk to the stage from the back of the church while
playing and humming a song. The humming could be pre recorded and played on
the surround sound system. The NARRATOR represents a very serious character.
MARY and JOSEPH are already on stage Right and arguing about MARYS
pregnancy. The NARRATOR and GUITERIST pose on stage left and GUITERIST
sits down while NARRATOR begins to talk]
SCENE#1-INTRODUCTION
NARRATOR
(Keyboard/ Music plays very low in the background)
Greetings everyone, and welcome to a dramatic tale taken from a long time ago a very
looooooog time ago but a story that never dies in our lives and will forever be a moment that
changed history.
The tale that you are about to watch, and be witness to, is based on real life events as told in the
only living book that was ever written. THE BIBLE. And not from my great grandfather to my
grandfather to my father then to me and to you.. but from the living word. All characters in this
play are adapted from real life characters.
Walk with me as I take you to the house of Joseph (as he moves towards Mary and Joseph
keyboard plays very loudly)
Mary and Joseph
Narrator arrives on scene and takes a sit to watch Mary and Joseph.
Joseph is very very angry and is panting up and down the room as Mary is crying uncontrollably.
The keyboard slowly dies down as Josephs voice raises.
The argument goes on and on and seems it will not end Narrator stands up and orders Joseph
to be quiet.
Joseph seems reluctant and starts to get into an argument with the Narrator, (asking him who he
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is).. the Guitarist gets up and starts playing the guitar as all the characters freeze. As the Guitarist
reaches the scene, the narrator begins to talk.
The Narrator starts with addressing Joseph and Mary that we have always heard their story and that
this time around its not really about them. He turns to the church and explains that the story is
different this year. (optional: he could also talk about the theme of the day and Pose the question,
Why the Manger?)
Narrator tells the church that they need to travel to Bethlehem to the night Jesus was born.
Narrator invites the church to sing while seated the first hymn, away in the manger. As the church
is singing the cast moves off the stage and travel to Bethlehem. They exit the stage through the
ladies side of the church down to the entrance of the church
ENDofSCENE#1
SCENE#2IN BETHLEHEM
[The church is still singing away in a manger and the innkeeper and his family are
fixing the next scene on stage to represent the stable. They bring in the straw and
the manger and perhaps a view logs to sit on. As the church is singing the last
verse of the hymn the other cast that exited the stage walk in through the mens and
youth side of the church and make their way to the front. They act out the part
where they ask for a room and are given the stable. All along the narrator and the
guitarist are seated.. as the song ends everyone freezes and the narrator and
guitarist speak.](optional: before the narrator speaks you can have dancers who
can come and dance with zitenje and cover Mary so that she gives birth.
Narrator speaks and gives a brief summary of the events that led to the birth and place of Jesus.
He walks to stage right where the manger is and gets into a conversation with the innkeeper
The Innkeeper represents the cold characteristic of the heart and in the play he is portrayed as
being cold in the sense that he took advantage of the situation that Mary and Joseph where in
and made them pay for a very substandard place.
The Narrator makes the Innkeeper to admit that he could have provided for a better place and
also draws attention to the fact that the stable and the manger in particular must have been very
cold. The Innkeeper doesnt think he did anything wrong and also points out that his animals
would also have babies in the same place..
The narrator tells the innkeeper that the manger is a very cold place and that he is even colder
for not giving the mother and child a better place.
The Guitarist walks up and starts playing the guitar while everyone freezes on stage. He leads
them to all sit down and then looks towards the back of the church where everyones attention
points to.
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The shepherds are gathered at the back of the church and begin to make a lot of noise slowly
rising and interchanging the pitch with the guitarist until they are the only ones being heard.
As they continue to talk and tend to the goat the angels in the upper part of the church suddenly
rise and all the shepherds fall down and freeze.
(options. 1) there could be a recorded drum roll trumpet sound recorded
in the presidential arrival sound or 2) the keyboardist could play a mellow
hallelujah tune)

ENDofSCENE#2

SCENE#3THE SHEPHERDS
[The scene starts with the angels singing one song then one gives exaltation. Soon
as the singing ends the shepherds make their way to the stable. In haste and full of
joy. At all occasions the shepherds should be seen as a very dirty crew and never
take care of themselves]
The Shepherds are very surprised that they are led to the stable where Jesus was born and
start blaming each other that they have gone to the wrong place. They dont believe that this
is where the angels would tell them to go.
As they are arguing the guitarist gets up and as soon as he plays a few notes the narrator gets
into a conversation with them posing the question why they think they are in the wrong
place.
In the conversation its highlighted that they were told that a king would be born and they
heard the news from very clean and smartly dressed angels. At first they were surprised that
such clean angels would come to them seeing how dirty they are. But then they would not
believe that they would find the King in a much dirtier place.
One of them is really disappointed and the points out that the manger is not a place to place
a child, especially a Child King, but rather where they feed cattle from. Its rarely cleaned
and full of ticks and snort from the cows. He points out that never in his life and in his
profession has he ever seen and heard that a child was born and placed in a manger. Its a
taboo.
One of them turns to the innkeeper and tells him that he is a very cold person and the
manger is even colder, and that he could have at least provided room for the child and its
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mother. This arouses the other Shepherds and they want to beat up the Innkeeper.
They are interrupted by the guitarist who again plays some notes and they freeze. The
narrator then talks to both of them and addresses their characteristics, how the innkeeper is
cold and the manger is even colder, and again how the shepherds are dirty and so are their
hearts because they live a life always picking and scolding other people and the manger is
dirtier.
Narrator repeats as in scene 2 that the innkeeper should have considered putting the mother
and child in warmer place and then points to the shepherds that at least they could have
cleaned themselves when they were coming
They are interrupted by the sound of humming that continues to get louder and louder.

ENDofSCENE#3

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SCENE#4-THE WISE MEN

[The KINGS are very stately and poised. They speak like very well educated persons.
They are know it alls and dont regard anyone else to be above them. They have an
entourage of helpers and are seen to be very bossy and believe in a lot of magic and
darkly things. They are very scary people. As they approach the front, the shepherds
exit the scene through the door that leads to the vestry.]
They make their way to where the child and mother are and begin to ask tough questions. They
each ask a question each trying to confirm that this is really the child they have been led to. ( they
could ask questions like what time was he born, is he the first born, why in a manger etc)
They ask to see the baby and are shown the manger. They cannot see the baby properly because it
is so dark and they ask for a torch. Their helpers cannot find the torch and so instead they perform
a dark ritual to prove that the baby is really the one that they followed.
As they are doing the ritual the guitarist gets up and interrupts them, they seem to be dazed with
the guitarist and they shake their heads and then one by one they offer the gifts to the king
without saying anything. As soon as they finish handing over the gifts the guitarist stops playing
and then the narrator talks.
The narrator highlights to them that they are very wise and asks them why they needed to perform
a dark ritual. The wise men respond in pointing in to everyone that firstly a manger is usually
underground and that it is night and therefore it is too dark. They need light to see the baby and
since they could not find their torch they resorted to trying to substitute the light by their own
dark ways.
The narrator then summarizes the wise men character. He points out that they are very wise and
very intelligent but without the light of the star that they followed they could not have found the
Child King. He goes on to tell them that the manger is a very dark place and hence the reason
why they could not be able to see the child but then points out to them that their ways are even
darker since they resort to dark ways to find solutions and that they believe in stars.
The scene ends with a sobre mood with all the characters on stage thinking about what the
narrator has said
(Optional: praise team could sing)

ENDofSCENE#4

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SCENE#5-CONCLUSION
[the narrator gives a summary of the characters of the play, the relation to the manger
and the relation to their hearts. He goes on to expound on how our hearts are exactly
like the characters of the play. And what happens when Jesus is born in our hearts.
All characters are back on the stage]
The narrator and guitarist walk to each character one by one firstly to Mary, Joseph and the born
Child. There he explains that there was never and there has never been anyone born who was so
pure. He explains that even the birth and survival itself was a miracle.
Brothers and sisters, this is the presentation that we prepared for you this year.
Let me quickly point out to all the roles once again
We had the inn keeper who was very cold hearted but he gave Joseph and Mary an even colder
place in the stable and manger where Jesus was born. The Manger was very very cold
We had very dirty shepherds who were visited by very clean angels and who did not believe that a
king would be born in even a dirtier place because the manger was very very dirty
Lastly we had the wise men that though they followed the light of the star and even though they
were very wise they could not confirm that the baby was the one because the manger was very
very dark
Later on my friend sichile is going to speak more on these but right now as we leave the
stage. Tapitani mukakhale pansi oooooh wait.. please clap hands for them
Let me invite my friend to come to the stage and talk more about the dirty part. From me as Mr
Sulamoyo says. Im signing off

He then carries the manger and starts comparing it to the characters of the play, firstly to the
innkeeper..
explains the cold aspect
Then the shepherds
explains the dirty aspect
Then the wise men.
explains the dark aspect
He concludes by comparing it to the human heart and explains that it is exactly the same as the
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manger and thats where Jesus is born in our lives

Play ends with guitarist playing a confessional hymn.

THEEND

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