Description
Paul the apostle and his missionary journeys are reminisced about by his friends
. Luckily Barnabas had his camera along and left the pictures for our reference. Unfortunately, there is a problem with the pictures, (or is it a problem with the Narrator who runs the projector???). Regardless of all that, this comedy does give a “snapshot” of Paul’s amazing ministry.
Written by Graham Scott, a talented Australian playwright.
Cast: 6 m or f
- Narrator
- Barnabas
- Priscilla
- Aquila
- Timothy
- Lydia
Bible Reference: Acts
Set: standard
Sound: wireless mics if available
Song: none
Lighting: standard
SFX: none
Props:
- Slide projector showing only white light each time it changes slides.
- Laser pointer to roam over the white slides area to point out the (unseen) people and items mentioned by the characters.
Costumes:
- traditional or contemporary
Special Instructions: none
Time: 10
Sample of script:
Narrator comes onstage
Narrator: A recent archaeological dig in Antioch uncovered a box of slides taken of the apostle Paul on his missionary journeys. These pictures were taken by Barnabas and we could see that they were old Kodak stock from a fine Jewish company. Here for the first time we see the slides, giving us a running commentary on Paul’s work as a missionary by those who were with Him.
For your greater information, along with the slides, we have arranged for comments from Barnabas and others who knew Paul best.
First we hear from Barnabas himself:
Barnabas onstage
Barnabas: Paul was a creep to work with! Boy, he gave me a hard time, but then he gave lots of people a hard time, so I won’t complain. The thing is that in stirring people up so much he got things done.
Hello, I’m Barnabas, one of the missionaries who worked with Paul. I knew him right from the start. As missionaries we came on the scene at the very same time.
I hear you people are having a celebration for Paul – or Saul as we Jews knew him – so I thought I should give you some information to go with the background snapshots of the man. Here are some slides I took of him on his travels. Oh, and I have some of his friends to help fill in the gaps.
Narrator clicks the projector, which shows only white square
Barnabas: Here he is setting up his tent-making business in Antioch. You can see that he was only a short man but really stocky and strong.
(gazes at the image, looks at Narrator)
Can’t you get better focus on that image Narrator?
(narrator shrugs)
Going bald by the time he got here but you can just make out that he had red hair, (glares at Narrator), or could if the focus allowed!
Red hair, fiery. And that was his nature too.
Narrator, show the next slide.
Narrator clicks projector, Priscilla onstage
Priscilla: I’m Priscilla, here with my husband and fellow Christian. There is Paul out the front of my tent-making workshop in Corinth. We helped each other in business and we helped Paul set up the Christian church in Corinth.
Loved working with him. He was so pushy and full of vigor; you just knew the church would be a success with Paul behind it. He could talk the leg off an iron pot.
Narrator clicks projector, Aquila onstage
Aquila: I’m Aquila. Priscilla is my wife. I think the important move Paul made in Corinth was to open up the Christian church to the locals, the gentiles as we would call them. They’re all around us here. We were Jews forced out of Rome and having lots of Christians from other cultures has made Corinth a real community. Paul got that going.
Barnabas: And not without argument and strife. Remember the ‘Incident at Antioch’?
(Narrator clicks projector)
Here’s the photo of it. He had Peter come to visit but Peter wasn’t prepared to take a meal with another follower of Christ who wasn’t a Jew. They had a right old barney about it – in public too! The big guy on the right next to that pillar is Peter and you can see little Paul shoving his fist in his face and glaring at him. Put him right to shame.
