We see the day she got saved, Christmas Day, 1959, stuck in an airport. Or a Christmas Eve, 1966, when she was about to give birth. Also time spent as a missionary to Brazil in the 70’s. The kids learn a lot from their grandma and make some important decisions of their own based on the seasons in her life that she shared.
Cast of 50 (31 females, 19 males) easy to adjust or delete parts. Actors can also play multiple parts if you don’t have enough. An hour long.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
LIZ: The largest part. She is the main character and ages from 18 to about 36. She undergoes a transformation from a troubled girl who doesn’t really know Jesus personally, to a growing Christian.
GRANDMA: Another large part. She is the same character. She is Liz at age 65. She should be played by another actress and stays on stage throughout telling her story.
CHARLIE: The largest male part. Charlie is a strong Christian who really loves the Lord and is quick to give spiritual advice. Later he becomes a very nervous father-to-be.
JEAN: The nurse at the desk in the hospital emergency room.
STEVEN: A young man in his 20’s who is doing Bible translation in Brazil.
MRS. HAMILTON: An eccentric old lady at the airport.
THE GRANDCHILDREN:
BOBBY: Age from 14-16. Interested in becoming a missionary.
TRISH: Age 16-18. Drives her cousins to Grandma’s house in the car.
JAMES: Needs to be young looking. Age 11 or younger is better.
JENNIFER: Trish’s younger sister. Young looking. 12 or younger.
HEATHER: Bobby’s little sister. Young looking. 12 or younger.
THE SCHOOL YARD CAST:
LIZZIE: The main character as a young girl. Should look age 11 or 12.
MRS. POTTER: Lizzie’s mother, who speaks with a Swedish accent and dresses in old clothes. (Another nationality can be used if the script is changed a little)
JANICE: 11 or 12 yr old.
ARTHUR: 11 or 12 yr old
JUDY: 11 or 12 yr old
DAVID: 11 or 12 yr old
COLLEGE DANCE COMMITTEE:
LINDA: Age 18 or 19. Liz’s friend.
JANET: Smart aleck and jokester. Same age.
ELLEN: A psychology major. Same age.
MAGGIE: A flirt. Same age.
BILL: Same age, and just wants to help
GRANT: Bill’s friend. Same age.
DOUGLAS: Thinks he’s a ladies man. Same age.
AIRPORT CAST:
MILDRED: Employee who stand behind the podium and makes announcements.
EUNICE: Employee friend of Mildred’s who likes to gossip.
RICHARD: The supervisor.
EXTRAS WITH ONE TO FOUR LINES EACH: Lucille, Sid, Abigail, Harriet, Harvey, Man w/paper, Woman w/hat, Bertha, Sally, Lillian.
HOSPITAL CAST:
THOMAS: A smart aleck orderly and jokester.
MARTHA: E.R. nurse.
MARK: An impatient patient.
GARY: A man with the flu.
BARBARA: Head nurse.
EXTRAS WITH TWO TO FOUR LINES EACH: William, Robert, Mary, Kathleen, John, Woman in sling.
BRAZIL CAST:
KIMBERLY: Liz’s oldest daughter. She is 12-14. She has a crush on Steven though he is about 10 years older.
MARIA: A young Brazilian girl. Speaks a broken English, slowly.
Excerpt:
(As the lights come back up there are a lot of people entering with small pieces of luggage -nothing newer than 1960…or anything that looks old in style will probably work- and some who look like airport employees. Everyone is dressed to fit winter of 1959. Several chairs are set up in rows. People are sitting and reading papers or books and people are coming and going. It needs to look like an airport setting. There is a woman in uniform standing at a podium flipping through a notebook. An old woman –Mrs. Hamilton- approaches her and stands there waiting to get her attention. She does not acknowledge her presence. Another employee approaches the employee at the podium. Music fades to faint background music or out altogether.)
EUNICE: Mildred! That flight from New York going to Ohio is delayed.
MILDRED: Which one is that?
EUNICE: Flight 53 to Cleveland.
MILDRED: Reason for delay?
EUNICE: Weather of course! Don’t you listen to the news? Snow is falling on New York City as we speak. Looks like it will be an interesting Christmas.
MILDRED: Do you know how long the delay is?
EUNICE: You know how these things go…. They never tell us that kind of stuff! I don’t think the planes can leave the ground there… that’s the problem. And if it starts snowing here… then they won’t be leaving or landing here either.
MILDRED: I’ll make an announcement in a few minutes.
EUNICE: Did you hear who got fired this morning?
MILDRED: Fired? No!
EUNICE: Smithy.
MILDRED: That nice maintenance man?
EUNICE: That’s right. I guess they found him asleep in the custodial closet.
MILDRED: Asleep! And they fired him for that?
EUNICE: I guess it wasn’t the first time.
MILDRED: I wonder who reported him. Probably that mean ol’ George Sanderson!
EUNICE: Oh, doesn’t he remind you of that guy in Ben-Hur? You know, the mean one? (A popular movie at that time)
MILDRED: Yes! The one who gets run over in the chariot race! Oh I just love that Charlton Heston! I think he is one of my favorite actors! He was the perfect Moses in The Ten Commandments!
EUNICE: And a great Ben-Hur! Did you see him in The Greatest Show On Earth?
MILDRED: Oh… of course! He makes such good movies!
MRS. HAMILTON: Excuse me! I have been standing here a long time! I’ve learned about the weather in New York, the firing of Smithy and heard all about Ben-Hur and Moses and what a good actor he is…so before you start in on who is getting married to whom… could I get some assistance?
EUNICE: I’ll talk to you later, Mildred. (She exits)
MILDRED: Okay. Maybe I’ll see you in the break room. May I help you ma’am?
MRS. HAMILTON: (With sarcasm) Oh! Is it my turn? Thank you so much, Mildred! My name is Mrs. Hamilton. I live at 344 Abercrombie Road. I would like to know where I will be sitting on the plane.
MILDRED: It should say on your ticket.
MRS. HAMILTON: My ticket?
MILDRED: You DO have a ticket don’t you?
MRS. HAMILTON: Don’t be impertinent! Of course I have a ticket! Would I be here if I didn’t?
MILDRED: Well, if you look on your ticket, it should give you your seat assignment.
MRS. HAMILTON: Well…it is important to me because I don’t want to be too far in the back of the plane. I also don’t want to be too far away from the restroom. I have to go quite frequently….
MILDRED: Well, the lavatory is in the rear of the plane….
MRS. HAMILTON: Oh… why doesn’t someone design a plane that fits our needs? (She starts looking in her purse) I will have to look for my ticket…oh dear…. Where did I put that? (She looks in another bag that she is carrying) Excuse me. I think I will have to sit down. (She crosses over to the seats and just then Liz enters and heads over to sit down. Liz selects a seat and Mrs. Hamilton sits right next to her.) I have to find my ticket. Oh dear! That woman over there got me so flustered that I don’t know where anything is! (Liz looks at her but tries to keep to herself) You know, they have the worst service in these places! A body spends a fortune on a ticket; you would think that we would receive much better service! I asked the woman where my seat was and she says I have to look at my ticket. Can’t she just look up my name on her chart there and tell me where I am sitting? Now I have to look for my ticket! Do you think I know where I put it?
LIZ: Well…you’ll have to find it anyway, or they won’t let you on the plane. (She gives Liz a dirty look and keeps looking in her bag.)
MAN WITH NEWSPAPER: (Puts down his paper and crosses over to Mildred) Say! Shouldn’t we be boarding our plane? I have half past 10!
MILDRED: Please take your seat, sir. I am about to make an announcement. (She picks up a microphone and speaks into it.) May I have your attention please! All passengers who have tickets for Flight 53 to Cleveland, Ohio….your flight has been delayed. (There is a moan from the crowd. Liz makes a face and then pulls a book out of her bag to read.)
MAN WITH NEWSPAPER: Oh for-e-ver more! (He sits down in a huff.)
WOMAN WITH A HAT: How long is the delay?
MILDRED: (Into the mike) We will keep you informed as information comes to us. Apparently it is because of the storm in New York.
LUCILLE: Why would a storm in New York have any effect on us here?
ABIGAIL: Because our plane is coming from New York.
LUCILLE: Well… don’t they have a plane coming from here? Why do we have to get on one that is coming from New York? That makes no sense to me!
ABIGAIL: There are people in New York who also want to get to Ohio. They are just stopping here to let us get on the plane.
LUCILLE: How come you know so much? (Abigail decides to keep to herself, and turns the other way)
CHARLIE: (Enters carrying a duffle bag looks around for a place to sit and suddenly notices Liz) Well…hello there! Fancy meeting you here!
LIZ: Charlie? What are you doing here?
CHARLIE: The real question is… what are YOU doing here? Sitting in an airport on Christmas Day!
LIZ: Don’t try to take credit for this! I just decided on my own that I should go home for Christmas. If I ever get there! My flight has been delayed!
CHARLIE: Oh…that’s too bad! Probably because of all the snow I guess.
LIZ: Oh…you heard about the snow in New York?
CHARLIE: In New York? I was just talking about here. It is really coming down out there! They are having a white Christmas here!
LIZ: It’s snowing?
CHARLIE: Yeah… I love it! (Quickly changing his tone) But not if it means messing up our flights today. I guess that is what I get for waiting till Christmas Day to fly.
LIZ: I would have thought that you would be home by now.
CHARLIE: I got the best deal by waiting till today.
LIZ: Same here.
CHARLIE: You mind if I sit here?
LIZ: It’s open.
CHARLIE: (Sitting) What are you reading?
LIZ: Doctor Zhivago. It’s very popular, but a bit hard to read.
CHARLIE: I just finished this… by Pat Boone. Want to read it?
LIZ: “Twixt Twelve and Twenty”…I didn’t know he wrote books. (Pat Boone’s first book, published in 1958) I like him as a singer. He’s a Christian isn’t he?
CHARLIE: Yeah… he wrote that book to teenagers. It’s pretty good.
LIZ: I really want to see him in that movie “Journey to the Center of the Earth”.
CHARLIE: Yeah… I wonder if he can act.
LIZ: Well, I guess if Elvis can do it. I didn’t see you at the dance the other night.
CHARLIE: I’m not much of a dancer. But actually, I was going to come, and then my roommate had this crisis and I thought I should stay and help him.
LIZ: How noble.
CHARLIE: Not really. Well, I won’t bother you so you can read. I was going to do some reading myself. (He pulls out his Bible)
LIZ: Oh…a Bible! Do you read it a lot?
CHARLIE: I try to read every day. It’s the way God speaks to me. There is so much in these pages and I want to hear from Him to live my life from day to day.
LIZ: I don’t think I have ever known anyone as religious as you.
CHARLIE: I don’t like to use that word. It has such a negative ring to it. I just want to get close to God and really know Him.
MILDRED: May I have your attention please! Because of the heavy snow fall that we are experiencing right now, all flights arriving and departing from this airport are being temporarily suspended.
MAN WITH A NEWSPAPER: Great Scot!
WOMAN WITH HAT: (Also reacting to the announcement) What is that supposed to mean?
MRS. HAMILTON: (To Liz) What did she say?
LIZ: (To Mrs. Hamilton) All flights are being delayed because of the snow.
CHARLIE: I guess we’re going to be here for awhile.
(Sid and Sally walk up to Mildred’s podium)
SID: We don’t want to spend Christmas day in an airport! Is there any way we can get our money back on our ticket?
MILDRED: You can try talking to them over in Customer Service.
SID: Let’s go Sally. I’m not going to sit here and do nothing on Christmas Day!
SALLY: (Following him out) I don’t think they will give us a refund, Sid! What are you going to do?
SID: Sometimes you have to demand your rights, Sally! They’ll listen to me! (They exit.)
MRS. HAMILTON: (Finally finds her ticket) Here it is! Here is my ticket! Now… what seat do I have? (She hands the ticket to Liz)
LIZ: (Reads her ticket) 10B.
MRS. HAMILTON: Where is that?
LIZ: Well…10 rows back, so I don’t think it is way in the back of the plane.
MRS. HAMILTON: Oh…I hope it isn’t over the wing! I hate sitting over the wing!
LIZ: I wouldn’t know. (To Charlie) All of this really messes up people’s lives doesn’t it? Everyone is so upset.
CHARLIE: I think it is our human nature to get upset when things don’t go the way we want them to. But the way I look at it…God may be trying to teach me something, so I just sit back and let what happens happen. If He wants me to spend Christmas Day in an airport, then there must be a good reason for it.
HARVEY: (Sitting in the seat on the other side of Charlie) Hey Buddy…I am getting pretty tired of all this goody-goody talk! I see no reason for being happy about this situation! This is not how I want to spend MY Christmas!
HARRIET: (Sitting next to Harvey) He’s a regular Pollyanna! (Popular children’s book about a girl who liked to be positive and play the ‘glad’ game) Come on, Harvey! Why don’t we go and find something to eat? (They get up and exit)
BERTHA: (Crossing over to podium) Is there some place we can get something to drink while we wait?
MILDRED: There are vending machines down that hall where you can buy some pop.
LILLIAN: (With Bertha) I wonder if they have Grapette. I really want some Grapette. (Popular soda pop from the 50’s)
BERTHA: I just want an Orange Crush. (They exit.)
MRS. HAMILTON: (Pulls a small bag of cookies out of her purse) Would you like a cookie? I made them myself…they didn’t turn out.
LIZ: Oh…no thank you.
MRS. HAMILTON: I don’t blame you. They didn’t turn out. How about your boyfriend, would he like one?
LIZ: Oh…he’s not my boy…
CHARLIE: No thank you, ma’am.
MRS. HAMILTON: Yeah…they didn’t turn out. Don’t know why. (She gets up and starts walking around offering a cookie to the ones who are still there.) Would you like a cookie? They didn’t turn out. How about you? You want one? (Liz and Charlie watch her for a bit and then they look at each other and start to laugh a little.)
CHARLIE: So…do you think I’m a Pollyanna?
LIZ: What’s wrong with that? I read that book. I think she had something good going on. I wouldn’t worry about what people say.
CHARLIE: Oh, I don’t. But I am interested in what you think.
LIZ: I’ve never met anyone like you before. Being around you makes me think a lot.
CHARLIE: Really?
LIZ: Yeah… it makes me think about my life. I mean… I’ve gone to church all my life and I believe in all of that…but you really live it. You are a REAL Christian!
CHARLIE: As opposed to a phony Christian?
LIZ: Phony? I guess. Well, you know what I mean!
CHARLIE: No. Tell me.
LIZ: Like me for instance. I’m not the kind of Christian you are. I go to church and I believe in God. I know that Christmas is the birth of Jesus and Easter is when He rose from the dead. I know stuff…but it isn’t my whole life. I don’t read the Bible to hear God speak to me. I say prayers, but I get the feeling you actually talk to Him! Maybe I am a phony Christian!
CHARLIE: Is there such a thing? Can someone be a Christian and not be a real one? Sounds like a contradiction to me.
LIZ: Yeah… it does, doesn’t it? You see what I mean? You really make me think!
CHARLIE: I’m sorry. Seems like I’m always causing you difficulties.
LIZ: Maybe it is a good thing. You know… I should look at it from your Christian perspective. God has allowed the snow to keep us from going home for Christmas. It could be for a reason.
CHARLIE: Well… that’s what I think.
LIZ: How do you know that you are a Christian? I mean…how can you be sure? Do you think that a person could really not be a Christian and not know it?
CHARLIE: Wow! That’s three questions. I know that I am because I have assurance in my spirit and from reading His Word. He tells us in His Word that we can KNOW. First John 5:13 says, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.” It says in Acts that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I have and so I am. And yes… I think that there may be many people who have been misled or just ignorant, and they think they are saved, but maybe they aren’t. Jesus said in Matthew 7 that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven.
LIZ: I think that maybe I’m one of them.
CHARLIE: Why do you think that?
LIZ: Well, I’m not like you, that’s for sure!
CHARLIE: Just because I sit here holding a Bible doesn’t mean….
LIZ: No… it’s not just that. You talk about God all the time. You live the Christian life. I can tell. It is not just something that you add to your life… like you go to college and you like music and you happen to be a Christian. Being a Christian is everything to you. I can tell.
CHARLIE: You hardly know me.
LIZ: There is something very different about you. You actually know God. I don’t think I do.
CHARLIE: Did you ever ask Him to forgive your sin and come into your life?
LIZ: Well… they have us say these prayers at church. I guess that is what we are doing. You know… they cover all that. Jesus is the Savior and we have baptism and communion and we say prayers. We’re Christians I guess.
CHARLIE: But salvation is not something that we do. You can’t make yourself be a Christian. God does the saving. He does all the work. All we have to do is take the free gift and let Him come into our hearts and make us into new creatures. I think you can say a prayer that someone taught you to say… and it is meaningless if nothing happens inside your heart.
LIZ: Wow. I’m getting goose bumps just listening to you. You are right. I’ve never allowed Him into my heart. I have been just … just….
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