THE BEAUTIFUL GARDEN
A Holy Week Play in One Act
by
Jewell Ellen Smith
© Copyright 1973 by Jewell
Ellen Smith.
All scripture quotations are
from the King James Version. First performed at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, in 1970. Nonprofit
groups may perform this play without payment, but if you plan to perform the
play, Jewell’s children request that you e-mail Jewell’s older son David at
DSmith1204@aol.com.
Click
here to return to The Jewell Ellen Smith Homepage
DESCRIPTION OF PLAY, WITH
SUGGESTIONS FOR SPECIAL EFFECTS:
Theme: The Easter season is
more than an occasion for pink rabbits and egg hunts and the wearing of new
clothes.
For each individual it can
become a glorious festival of rejoicing in the Christian Faith and Hope. It is
a time to consider being steadfast, a time for meeting God in "A Beautiful
Garden" of prayer.
Type: Mini-operetta form. Dialogue. Still scenes
that come to life. Singing.
Length of Play: 18 to 20 minutes.
Time and Place: The present, at an imaginary U. S.
Army post, Ft. Rueben.
Bible Time and Place: Jerusalem, when Jesus Christ
was crucified.
Number of Characters: 14 to
16 persons, most of whom must have good singing voices. All except Christ
Figure can be women.
Characters
(in the order of their appearance):
Ft. Rueben Altar Guild Committee: Sue, Eunice, Alice
Hidden
soloist
Biblical persons:
Women of Galilee: Salome,
Mary Magdalene, The Other Mary, Joanna, three to five other women.
The
Centurion
First and Second Angels
The Christ Figure
Scenes and Sub-scenes:
Scene I: Sue’s quarters
(home) at Ft. Rueben, three weeks before Easter. The Altar Guild Committee
meets to plan a religious program. The committee visualizes the following
scenes:
Sub-Scene A: The place
called Golgotha. Certain women of Galilee "behold from afar off."
Sub-Scene B: At the door of
the empty sepulcher. Two angels sit at doorway. Women of Galilee bring spices
to anoint Christ's body.
Sub-Scene C (Same as B): In
the Garden, near the tomb, Mary Magdalene meets the Risen Lord!
Scene II (Same as I): Altar
Guild Committee continues planning program.
Sub-Scene D: The Beautiful
Garden. Entire Cast (except Christ Figure) sings "The Beautiful Garden of
Prayer."
Costumes:
Ft. Rueben Army wives wear conventional street frocks.
Women of Galilee wear
flowing Biblical costumes (with head shawls) in pastel shades as follows:
Salome: yellow
Mary Magdalene: old rose
The Other Mary: blue
Joanna: lavender
Other women: pink, light green, orange, deep blue,
tan
Roman Centurion: Roman soldier's uniform--helmet,
shield, etc.
Angels: shining white, with
wings (white tissue paper cut in strips and pasted on wings gives nice feathery
effect)
Christ Figure: full white
robe. Headdress, with halo--so fixed that audience does not see his face.
Scenery and Special Effects:
Public address system, with three microphones
Piano or organ placed out of sight.
Two spotlights.
Small table, three chairs, with a few living room accessories.
For Biblical scenes:
Three life-size crosses,
bare. Center cross larger, with sign at top "The King of the Jews."
Elevate the crosses so that women in foreground can kneel and stand,
"beholding afar off." Place crosses on right side of stage.
For Door of Tomb: Simulate
open tomb, with large rock rolled to one side. Have inconspicuous benches for
angels. Place tomb on right of stage. Use shrubs and greenery to give garden
setting. Use spotlights on angels--midway in scene.
Beautiful garden: Use same
greenery as above (Remove tomb). Add perfusion of flowers. Make white picket
fence, with flower covered, arched gateway in center.
Hymns Included
in Play: All are well known, and are included at the end of the play with
permissions of the publishers, or are in the public domain.
"Lord,
I Want to Be a Christian"--solo
"Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?"--solo
"Christ the Lord is Risen Today"--group singing
"In the Garden" by C. Austin Miles--Mary Magdalene's solo
"The Beautiful Garden
of Prayer" by Elanor Schroll and J. H. Fillmore--sung by entire cast
except Christ Figure.
SCRIPT
SCENE
I
Living room of Sue's
quarters (home) at Ft. Rueben. Use left front stage, area out in front of
curtain. Or, the living room can be set up at floor level. As scene opens, the
Ft. Rueben Altar Guild Committee is meeting with Sue to plan a religious
program, to be presented during Holy Week. Sue and Eunice chat as they wait for
Alice to arrive.
SUE: I wonder what's keeping
Alice? Looks at wristwatch. It's nearly 9:30! I'd hope we could get this
Easter program planned in a hurry, because my next-door neighbor and I are
going to the North Gate Shopping Center at noon--soon as we get our kids on the
kindergarten bus.
EUNICE: What're you going to buy?
SUE: Oh, I'm going to get
little Eddie the biggest stuffed pink rabbit I can find. And I'm going to buy
myself a whole new outfit! Just for Easter!--I told Ed, I said, "I'm not
walking into that Chapel on Easter Sunday morning if I can't look like
something!" And he said, "Oh, you'll look like something, all right!
Like a zombie!"--I could've killed him!--You know, Eunice, I've got five
wigs and Ed doesn't like a single one of 'em. I may just buy me another wig
today. Strokes wig she's wearing. Adjusts it.
EUNICE: I wish Alice would
come on, too. When I joined the Altar Guild, I had no idea I'd ever be asked to
help plan the annual program for Holy Week.
SUE: Me neither. Here, have another sip of coffee. Pours
coffee.
EUNICE: Easter is so early
this year, and my in-laws are coming. I've got to get started getting
everything ready. I should have already put in the order for my mother-in-law's
corsage for Easter morning. I hope the florist will have gardenias. My
mother-in-law just loves 'em!
SUE: Well me, I'm going to
have an orchid Easter morning--or nothing! What're you going to feed your
company?
EUNICE: Ham, I guess. Easter
wouldn't be Easter without baked ham. -- I heard that the P. X. is already out
of egg coloring. Did you--
Editor's note: “P. X.” is
the Post Exchange, general store on military posts. Other terms such as “the
store” may be substituted.
SUE: Egg coloring! Yikes! Jumps
up I clear forgot! Little Eddy's kindergarten teacher called me way last
week to get me to help with the children's egg hunt. If I don't write that down
on my calendar this very minute, it'll never cross my mind again! Writes
on calendar I'm supposed to dye two dozen eggs and help select
the prizes. I declare, at Easter time there's so much to do, you hate to see it
coming. Gets up again to put away calendar. Sees Alice approaching. Here's
Alice now!--Come on in, Alice. Here, sit in this chair. And lem'me pour you
some coffee.
EUNICE: Hi, Alice! We were
just saying we hoped you'd soon come. Let's plan this program for the Altar
Guild ladies and get it over with.
ALICE: Putting down
booklets, papers, Bible, taking coffee cup. Yes, I'm anxious about it. I
hope you two have some good ideas. Looks at Sue
SUE: Don't look at me! I
wouldn't know where to start, working out a Holy Week program. All I know about
Easter is that you can run yourself ragged, trying to buy new clothes and dye
eggs and round up the candy and rabbits and stuff the children have to
have.--What kind of program does the Altar Guild want us to come up with?
ALICE: Anything we want. Of
course it ought to pertain to Holy Week, especially Good Friday--you know.
Naturally, it ought to be based on the Bible.
SUE: Let's see?--Maybe we
could ask one of the chaplains to give a talk. But, no, that'd be just another
sermon. In one ear, out the other! Makes gesture, pointing to one ear, then
the other.
EUNICE: How about a panel
discussion? Or maybe a review of some real good religious book? Ah, one year we
had a skit on the women of the Bible.
SUE: Yeah, I remember that!
And Gladys Seldon didn't want to play the part of Eve because she thought she
would have to walk out on stage with nothing on but fig leaves! The three
laugh.
ALICE: What do you think of
having a sort of pageant, and show what the women of Galilee, who were friends
of Jesus, did when He was crucified?
SUE: Sounds great. What did
they do? I'm ashamed to admit it, but I don't know what they did. Fact is, I
never thought about it before.
EUNICE: Don't feel bad. I'm
a little hazy on that, myself. About all I know is that Mary Magdalene was the
first person to see the risen Lord--Alice, let us look in your Bible a minute. Takes
Bible, turns to New Testament, as others wait.
ALICE: Well, we'd have to
look up all the Scripture passages and see exactly what Jesus' friends did do.
We would want our pageant to be authentic. I know that one of the Gospel
writers tells that a good many women of Galilee watched the crucifixion.
EUNICE: Yes, right here, it
tells that. And here's another verse. Points out passage.
It says that Mary Magdalene and some of the others watched to see where Jesus
was buried, and two days later they went back to the Tomb to take spices to
anoint the body of Christ. Hands Bible back to Alice.
ALICE: Maybe a pageant about
the women of Galilee would be real good. It might help everybody who saw it to
be a better Christian, in her heart.--How does that old spiritual go? Sings
phrase without music "Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart ... in my
heart." I can hear it. My mother used to sing that old song. Soloist,
behind curtain, sings "Lord, I want to be a Christian."
ALICE: Oh, let's do work up
a short pageant! Let's plan it, right now! Imagine that this living room wall
over here is a curtain Waves hand towards stage and
there's a stage.--We could set up three crosses for the first stage. Then,
for--
SUE: Sure! We could arrange
it so that as somebody reads out of the Bible, each scene would come to life,
so to speak. Curtain opens on Golgotha sub-scene. Alice begins reading.
SUB-SCENE
A: The place called Golgotha
Group of Biblical women are
facing crosses. Some are standing, heads bowed. Some kneel. All are sorrowful,
cast down. Roman Centurion stands between women and the crosses. All remain
motionless as Scripture is read. And, until hidden soloist sings two verses of
"Were you there?" At the end of the second verse, weeping women start
leaving slowly. Four of them stop to talk--Soloist saves third verse until
curtain closes.
ALICE: Reading Luke 23:
38, 44-49. "And a superscription also was written over him in letters
of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.... And it was about
the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth
hour.
"And the sun was darkened.
And the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with
a loud voice, he said, Father into thy hands I commend my spirit; and having
said thus, he gave up the ghost.
"Now when the Centurion
saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was the Son of God.
"And all the people
that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote
their breasts, and returned. And all his acquaintances, and the women that
followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things." Soloist
sings the two verses.
SALOME: Oh, what can we do? They have crucified our
Lord.
MARY MAGDALENE: Joseph, a
rich man from Arimathea, plans to ask Pilate for our Lord's body. And he's going
to place him in his own new tomb, dug out of the rock.
THE OTHER MARY: I heard that
Nicodemus, the ruler who once came to Jesus at night and in secret, is going to
help.
JOANNA: I was told that
Nicodemus has already bought the burial spices--at least a hundred pounds, a
mixture of myrrh and aloes.
SALOME: That will not be
enough. We should prepare some more. I do wish tomorrow were not the Sabbath.
We can do nothing on the Sabbath.
MARY MAGDALENE: Come, let us
go and watch to see where they laid him; then, after the Sabbath is passed, we
women of Galilee can take extra spices and ointments to the tomb.
THE OTHER MARY: As the
four go off-stage, to the left
The tomb of Joseph of Arimathea is in the garden, close by here.
Curtain
Soloist sings final verse of
"Were you there," i.e. "...when they laid him in the tomb.”
SUB-SCENE
B: At the Door of the Empty Sepulcher
Curtain opens to show two
angels sitting on either side of entrance to tomb. Scene is dimly lighted.
Salome, Joanna, the Other Mary, and possibly three other women enter from left.
Mary Magdalene is not in group.
SALOME: It is so dark I can hardly see the path.
JOANNA: Did not Mary Magdalene come with us?
SALOME: No. Mary Magdalene
is so grieved. She said that she would like to walk here alone, later, at the
rising of the Sun.
THE OTHER MARY: Who shall
roll us away the stone from the sepulcher? It will be a very great stone, I'm
sure.-- Oh, look!
Spotlight on Angels. Women
step back in fear.
1ST ANGEL: Do not be afraid. Ye seek Jesus
of Nazareth who was crucified?
THE OTHER MARY: Yes. He was our Lord. We have
brought burial ointments.
2ND ANGEL: Why seek ye the living among
the dead? He is not here. He is risen!
ALL WOMEN: Risen? Women murmur among themselves.
SALOME: How can that be?
JOANNA: I cannot believe--
THE OTHER MARY: Stooping
closer to First Angel, and speaking to
him. He is truly risen from the dead?
1ST ANGEL: Do you
not remember what he said? He spoke to you when he was yet in Galilee, saying,
"The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be
crucified, and the third day rise again."
ALL WOMEN: Yes, now we remember his words!
2ND ANGEL: Go tell his disciples.
SALOME: Let us go tell the world! Christ our Lord is
risen!
Women and Angels sing,
"Christ the Lord is Risen Today." Women leave stage, going back to
left. Angels remain seated. Curtain remains open.
SUB-SCENE
C: In the Garden
Same as above. Mary
Magdalene enters in hurriedly from right. Oblivious to the Angels, she runs to
look into door of tomb. Turning, she weeps and wipes her eyes.
MARY MAGDALENE: To herself Oh! They
have taken away my Lord.
2ND ANGEL: Woman, why weepest thou?
MARY MAGDALENE: He is not here! They have taken him
away.
Mary Magdalene sees Christ
figure entering from far left. She believes him to be the gardener. He turns so
that his face is not visible to audience.
MARY MAGDALENE: Still
talking with Angels Perhaps the gardener coming yonder
knows where they have placed him. Crosses stage toward Christ figure. Sir,
if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him.
CHRIST FIGURE: Mary!
MARY MAGDALENE: Master! Falls
at his feet. Stretches out arms toward CHRIST FIGURE.
CHRIST FIGURE: Touch me not,
for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren, and say unto
them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God and your God.
Mary Magdalene rises, clasps
hands together and moves in awe and wonder--to front center stage. Curtains
slowly close behind.
MARY MAGDALENE: I have seen
the risen Lord! I came to the garden alone, and He was here!
Mary Magdalene sings:
"In the Garden." She quietly leaves stage.
SCENE
II: Same as Scene I. Altar guild continues program plans.
EUNICE: Why, Alice, that
would be a proper program for Holy Week! Let's stage it! We can get all the
parts assigned and start rehearsing next week. Gets up. You and I
had better go now. Sue, here, has to go shopping.
SUE: No, no. You all don't
leave yet. Eunice sits back down. That shopping
trip can wait. I've just been sitting here, doing some serious thinking:
Easter is more than colored
eggs and bunny rabbits and baked ham--and buying new clothes--and wearing
corsages.
Easter is that time each
spring when we remember Jesus on the Cross. In the tomb. And then resurrected.
We can make Easter the most
glorious and joyous time of the year, for it is indeed our CELEBRATION that we
have the Christian faith and the hope of eternal life.
I don't think there's
anything wrong with coloring eggs and having egg hunts. Or, with the wearing of
new dresses and lovely flowers. That's all, all right, in its place. These are
in a sense symbols of new life, as is the coming of spring.
Our care should be that we
do not allow the trivial things, which are here today and faded and forgotten
tomorrow, to overshadow and sometimes to crowd out the true purpose of
observing Easter. And that purpose is to rejoice in Christ, and to offer glory
and praise to God for his Son, who gives us new, everlasting life--through the
Cross.
ALICE: Oh, Sue, you are so
right! And, can't we learn a lesson from the women of Galilee? They grieved and
they wept and they were afraid. But they didn't panic, or run, or quit thinking
of Jesus when all seemed lost, when even the Sun refused to shine. They stood
firm. We can stand firm. Be steadfast.
SUE and EUNICE: We surely can.
ALICE: Had either of you
ever considered that it was the Women of Galilee and their going to the tomb
before the rising of the Sun that even today influences Christians all over the
world to assemble out of doors to hold sunrise services on Easter morning?
EUNICE: I had never thought
of that! And you know these women never dreamed that their getting up early to
take the spices would lead to thousands and thousands of Easter Sunrise
Services, in years to come.
Those women of Galilee were
just doing what they could. They made and carried out their plans to prepare
burial spices for their Master. In occurs to me that we, too, can make and
carry out plans to do something for God.
We can literally, and figuratively,
prepare and bear in our hands those sweet things in life that are for Christ. Gestures
with hands.
ALICE: Rises Girls, I
tell you what! Let's add one more scene to the Holy Week pageant we're going to
stage.
Let's show that, in prayer, every
woman can be a Mary Magdalene--any day--and especially at Easter time.
Any person can slip quietly
away, forget the outward preparations for the Easter season, and find God in
"A Beautiful Garden of Prayer."
SUB-SCENE
D: The Beautiful Garden
Curtain opens on garden
scene. Three Guild women move up on stage and walk through garden gate. They
are joined by all the cast, except CHRIST FIGURE.
Entire Cast sings: "The
Beautiful Garden of Prayer."
Curtain
THE END
Click Here to Listen to the Piano Version of this Hymn
Listen to the Piano Version of This Hymn