THE CAST
NARRATOR (one or two)
HEAD SHEPHERD
YOUNG SHEPHERD
OLD SHEPHERD
HUNGRY SHEPHERD
PEPITA, a sheep who wanders
THE FLOCK, as many sheep as you like
NEW ANGEL
SENIOR ANGEL
ANGEL CHOIR
MARY
JOSEPH
THE STAR

THE SET: Stage left is the hillside: a "campfire" and a few hay bales. Stage right is heaven: a stepladder covered with a white sheet, behind a folding screen. The stable is center, and stays dark until Scene 5.

[Before the play, the whole cast comes in down the center aisle while everyone sings "O Come, All Ye Faithful." The SHEPHERDS, PEPITA and THE FLOCK go to the hillside. The ANGELS go behind the screen. MARY, JOSEPH and THE STAR sit in the front pew until Scene 5.]

SCENE 1 · A hillside outside Bethlehem. Night.

NARRATOR: A long time ago, in the hills outside the little town of Bethlehem, there were shepherds who worked the night shift. Somebody has to. Sheep don't stop being sheep just because it gets dark.

[The SHEPHERDS sit around the campfire, rubbing their hands. THE FLOCK lies down. PEPITA stands up and looks around.]

HEAD SHEPHERD: All right, everybody. Count off. Let's make sure we've got them all.

OLD SHEPHERD: We counted at sundown.

HEAD SHEPHERD: And we count again at midnight. That's the rule.

YOUNG SHEPHERD: [pointing at each sheep] One, two, three, four... [counts them all] ...and Pepita. Wait. Where's Pepita?

[Everyone looks. PEPITA has wandered to the far side of the stage.]

ALL SHEPHERDS: PEPITA!

[The YOUNG SHEPHERD runs and brings PEPITA back by her ribbon.]

YOUNG SHEPHERD: That's the third time tonight.

HEAD SHEPHERD: Fourth.

OLD SHEPHERD: That sheep is going to wander all the way to Jerusalem one of these nights.

HUNGRY SHEPHERD: Is it time to eat yet?

HEAD SHEPHERD: You ate an hour ago.

HUNGRY SHEPHERD: That was a piece of bread. That was more like a snack.

YOUNG SHEPHERD: [sitting down and hugging his knees] It's so cold. Why do we always get the night shift?

HEAD SHEPHERD: Because the day shift has been here longer.

OLD SHEPHERD: I've worked the night shift for forty years. You get used to it.

YOUNG SHEPHERD: Do you?

OLD SHEPHERD: No.

YOUNG SHEPHERD: Nothing ever happens on the night shift. The stars come out. The sheep go to sleep. Pepita wanders off. We bring her back. We get cold. Then the sun comes up and we go home. Every night, the same thing.

OLD SHEPHERD: Not every night is the same.

YOUNG SHEPHERD: Name one that wasn't.

OLD SHEPHERD: [thinks very hard] The night the wolf came.

HUNGRY SHEPHERD: That was a dog.

OLD SHEPHERD: It was a very big dog.

HEAD SHEPHERD: [looking up at the sky] My grandfather used to sit right here and look at the stars. He said God made a promise to our people, a long time ago. That he would send someone. Someone to make everything right.

YOUNG SHEPHERD: When?

HEAD SHEPHERD: He didn't know when. He just said to keep watching.

OLD SHEPHERD: Well. Watching is one thing we're good at.

[PEPITA has wandered off again.]

ALL SHEPHERDS: PEPITA!

SCENE 2 · Heaven.

[Lights come up stage right. The SENIOR ANGEL holds a rolled-up scroll. The NEW ANGEL is pacing.]

NARRATOR: Meanwhile, much farther up than any shepherd could see, an angel was about to get the most important job of her life. She was new.

SENIOR ANGEL: Are you ready?

NEW ANGEL: Ready? For what?

SENIOR ANGEL: Your first message.

NEW ANGEL: My first... tonight? Now? I thought I was still in training!

SENIOR ANGEL: Tonight is the night. Everything has been waiting for tonight.

NEW ANGEL: Who's it for? A king? A high priest? Somebody in a palace?

SENIOR ANGEL: Shepherds.

NEW ANGEL: Shepherds?

SENIOR ANGEL: On a hill outside Bethlehem. The night shift.

NEW ANGEL: Oh. Well. Shepherds. That's not so scary. [Pause.] What do I say?

SENIOR ANGEL: [unrolling the scroll] First, you tell them not to be afraid.

NEW ANGEL: Why would they be afraid?

SENIOR ANGEL: [looks at her for a long moment] You are about to appear in the sky in the middle of the night. Shining. Out of nowhere.

NEW ANGEL: Oh. Right. [practicing, much too loud] DON'T BE AFRAID!

SENIOR ANGEL: Maybe a little softer.

NEW ANGEL: [tiny] don't be afraid.

SENIOR ANGEL: Maybe somewhere in between.

NEW ANGEL: [just right] Don't be afraid.

SENIOR ANGEL: Good. Then you tell them you've brought good news. Happy news. News for everybody, everywhere.

NEW ANGEL: Good news. Happy. Everybody. Got it.

SENIOR ANGEL: Then you tell them this. Tonight, in Bethlehem, King David's town, the one God promised them has been born. The one who will save them. The one they've been waiting for.

NEW ANGEL: [gasps] He's here? He's really here?

SENIOR ANGEL: He's here. And this is how they'll know him. They'll find a baby, wrapped up snug in strips of cloth, sleeping in a manger.

NEW ANGEL: A manger? You mean the box where the animals eat?

SENIOR ANGEL: The box where the animals eat.

NEW ANGEL: That's not where I would have put him.

SENIOR ANGEL: That is why you're not in charge. [Hands her the scroll.] Now go. We'll be right behind you.

NEW ANGEL: We?

SENIOR ANGEL: Oh, you'll see.

[The NEW ANGEL takes a deep breath, holds the scroll tight, and goes behind the screen. Lights down stage right.]

SCENE 3 · The hillside.

NARRATOR: Back on the hillside, the shepherds were trying very hard to stay awake.

[The SHEPHERDS are nodding off. The HUNGRY SHEPHERD is eating. PEPITA wanders. The YOUNG SHEPHERD gets up to fetch her.]

YOUNG SHEPHERD: Come on, Pepita. Come back. There's nothing out here but... [He looks up. He freezes.]

[The NEW ANGEL appears on the stepladder. All the lights come up bright.]

YOUNG SHEPHERD: [pointing, can hardly talk] Um. Um. Everybody?

HEAD SHEPHERD: [with his eyes shut] What is it now?

YOUNG SHEPHERD: UP THERE!

[The SHEPHERDS look up, yell, and hide behind each other. THE FLOCK baas. The HUNGRY SHEPHERD drops his bread.]

NEW ANGEL: [too loud] DON'T BE... [catches herself, and says it just right] Don't be afraid.

[The SHEPHERDS peek out.]

OLD SHEPHERD: Little late for that.

NEW ANGEL: I've brought you good news! Happy news! It's, um... [checks the scroll] ...it's for everybody, everywhere! Tonight, in Bethlehem, in, um, in... [stuck; whispers toward the screen] Whose town?

SENIOR ANGEL: [a loud whisper, from behind the screen] David's!

NEW ANGEL: In King David's town, the one God promised you has been born! The one who will save you! The one you've been waiting for!

HEAD SHEPHERD: [slowly standing up] The one my grandfather was waiting for?

NEW ANGEL: [smiling right at him] That one. And this is how you'll know him. You'll find a baby, wrapped up snug in strips of cloth, sleeping in a... [checks the scroll and looks surprised all over again] ...in a manger. Yes. That's right. A manger.

HUNGRY SHEPHERD: The box where the animals eat?

NEW ANGEL: That's what I said!

[The ANGEL CHOIR comes out from behind the screen and stands around the stepladder. The SENIOR ANGEL comes with them.]

NARRATOR: And all at once, there were more angels than anyone could count, more angels than there were stars, filling up the whole sky and praising God.

SENIOR ANGEL and ANGEL CHOIR: Give glory to God, way up high! And peace down here on earth, to all the people God loves!

[CAROL: "Angels We Have Heard on High," sung by the ANGEL CHOIR, with everyone joining in on the chorus. Then the ANGELS go behind the screen, and the lights go back to night.]

SCENE 4 · Still the hillside.

[The SHEPHERDS are standing very still, looking up.]

YOUNG SHEPHERD: [quietly] I said nothing ever happens on the night shift.

OLD SHEPHERD: Forty years. Forty years, and tonight.

HEAD SHEPHERD: Well? What are we standing here for? Bethlehem is right over that hill. Let's go see him!

YOUNG SHEPHERD: What about the sheep?

HEAD SHEPHERD: [looks at THE FLOCK, thinks] Bring the sheep.

HUNGRY SHEPHERD: All of them?

HEAD SHEPHERD: All of them. Nobody gets left on the hill tonight.

YOUNG SHEPHERD: [counting quickly] One, two, three... wait. Where's Pepita?

ALL SHEPHERDS: PEPITA!

OLD SHEPHERD: Of all the nights!

HEAD SHEPHERD: We'll find her on the way. Come on!

[CAROL: "The First Noel," first verse and chorus, while the SHEPHERDS and THE FLOCK walk slowly across the front of the church to the stable. During the carol, PEPITA slips ahead by the side aisle and gets there first. MARY, JOSEPH and THE STAR take their places.]

SCENE 5 · The stable.

[Lights up center. MARY and JOSEPH sit by the manger. THE STAR stands behind them. PEPITA is lying down next to the manger, perfectly still.]

NARRATOR: They hurried into Bethlehem, and they found the place, out back where the animals were kept, because there had been no room for the family anywhere else. And there was Mary, and there was Joseph, and there was the baby, sleeping in the manger, exactly the way the angel said.

[The SHEPHERDS stop at the edge of the stable, suddenly shy.]

YOUNG SHEPHERD: [whispering] Look. Look who's already here.

HEAD SHEPHERD: Pepita!

OLD SHEPHERD: That sheep. That sheep knew the way before we did.

JOSEPH: She came in a little while ago. She hasn't moved since.

MARY: Come in. It's all right. Come and see him.

[The SHEPHERDS kneel by the manger. THE FLOCK kneels or lies down.]

HEAD SHEPHERD: We were out on the hill. Just working. And an angel came, and told us. About him.

MARY: An angel told you?

YOUNG SHEPHERD: A new one, I think. She was a little nervous.

OLD SHEPHERD: She did fine.

HUNGRY SHEPHERD: [very softly, looking at the baby] I'm not even hungry.

NARRATOR: Mary didn't say much more that night. But she remembered everything the shepherds told her, every word of it, and she kept it close, and thought about it for a long, long time.

[CAROL: "Away in a Manger." The littlest angels and sheep come to the front and sing the first verse; everyone sings the rest.]

SCENE 6 · The hillside, almost morning.

NARRATOR: Then the shepherds went back to their hill. But they didn't go back quietly. They told everybody they met on the way, everyone in Bethlehem who was awake and a few who weren't, about the angel and the baby, and people couldn't believe what they were hearing. And the shepherds thanked God at the top of their lungs the whole way home, because it had all turned out exactly as the angel said.

[The SHEPHERDS and THE FLOCK walk back to the hillside, waving to the congregation and calling out.]

YOUNG SHEPHERD: He's here! He's really here!

OLD SHEPHERD: Forty years! Go tell your grandfather!

HUNGRY SHEPHERD: In a manger! Where the animals eat!

HEAD SHEPHERD: [back at the campfire, counting] ...and Pepita. They're all here. Everybody's here.

YOUNG SHEPHERD: The sun's coming up. Shift's over.

OLD SHEPHERD: You know what? I think I'll stay a little longer.

[Lights come up stage right on the NEW ANGEL and the SENIOR ANGEL, looking down at the hill.]

SENIOR ANGEL: Well done.

NEW ANGEL: I forgot whose town it was.

SENIOR ANGEL: You remembered the part that mattered.

NEW ANGEL: Do you think they'll remember?

SENIOR ANGEL: I think people will be telling this story for two thousand years.

NEW ANGEL: [beaming] Can I do another one?

SENIOR ANGEL: Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

[CAROL: "Go Tell It on the Mountain." The whole cast comes to the front, and the congregation is invited to sing along. Bows. Then the cast goes out down the center aisle while everyone sings "Joy to the World."]

THE END

The story is from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke. We've told it in our own words for children, so please read it there too, in your own Bible.