Note: All scripts are easily accessible and downloadable here.
One Lent, I looked everywhere for a Reader’s Theater rendering of St. Matthew’s Passion Narrative. I was unsuccessful, so I wrote my own script, and in subsequent years, I reworked the script to follow the Passion Narrative found in St. Mark’s and St. Luke’s Gospels. You can search for them using the sidebar on this site, but the most current iterations are available at Prayers of the Faithful.
Oratio Contemplativa 
I look forward to using one of your passion narratives on Good Friday. On one of your pages you referenced slides. Are these projecton slides and if so can you mail or email them to me
E-mail sent. 🙂
Could you send those slides to me as well? Thanks!
E-mail sent. 😉
Thanks so much for making these available to us! I know my congregation will receive a blessing from them!
I hope so! Thank you!
Would you please send the ppt slides to me. I was looking for a readers theater for Good Friday this year. Thanks
Hi Peggy! I just sent you an e-mail. 🙂 M
Thank you for this. I am choirmaster at an Episcopal church in North Central California. Our choir did your St. Luke Passion as a choral reading this morning and you could have heard a pin drop in the church. After the service the response was enormously positive; our pastor said she heard the familiar words in new ways.
Thank you for the time and effort you put into these adaptations.
Elizabeth Crain
I’m so pleased and thankful to hear this. May God grant you a rich Holy Week full of his presence.
Do you still have ppt slides available for your readers theatre? I would love to have them. Thank you.
Hi Adonna! Ah, yes, the slides. I’ve been meaning to edit that. At the church I created this for, we used a powerpoint background. Hence the reference to the slides. I suppose the use of a slide is dependent on whether you typically use powerpoint in your service. In services where the entire liturgy was on powerpoint, we’ve had a slide with a few notes for the congregation and at other times have just included a bit in the bulletin at the appropriate spot, or a single-page insert to slip inside the bulletin. If you want the powerpoint file, I can probably hunt it up and send it to you, although it might be best to just craft a simple one that fits in with the flow of your liturgy. It wouldn’t need much on it, just a few prompts like the ones I’m including below.
What we typically did is have one of the readers preface the reading by giving a short introduction like the one I’ve included below. Also, it can help to instruct the reader who will say the lines preceding the congregation’s response to look up at the congregation to cue them in to participate. For the rest of the reading, all the readers were looking at their scripts, so the eye contact can be an effective way to invite the congregation to participate at those key moments.
Intro: During the Gospel reading, the congregation plays the part of the crowd. On the slide (or, in your bulletin), you will see the congregation’s responses along with the lines preceding them. Also note that the congregation stands when the people come to the Place of the Skull and remains standing until the end of the reading.
And then the below bits can be on a single slide or inserted into a bulletin:
Reader: Blasphemy!
Reader: People, what is your decision?
People: He deserves death.
***
Reader: Crucify Him!
Reader: People, what will you do with this Jesus who is called Christ?
People: Crucify Him!
***
Reader: And when they came tot he place that is called The Skull
The congregation stands for the remainder of the reading
***
Reader: This is the King of the Jews.
Reader: People, hail your King.
People: Hail, King of the Jews!
Does this help? Let me know if I can be of further assistance. M
Thank you so much for sharing these. I am looking forward to the opportunity to bring these to my congregation as a great new option for worship.
Happy to hear this! Thanks for stopping by – M
I plan to use this Mark version for Palm/Passion Sunday. Thank you for sharing your gift with us!
Excellent! We are using it this Sunday, too. 🙂
I am Chaplain at the Jamaica Defence Force and in searching for resources for Palm Sunday and Good Friday I stumbled upon your great work. I plan to use the resources for my services. Would you please allow me to have access to the slides?
Hi Major Smalling! I’m so happy that these resources might be useful to you! First, let me direct you to this page at prayersofthefaithful.org where I’ve included a more polished version of the readings with highlighted parts for each reader. Also, I thought I had edited out all bits about the slides – alas! At the church where I wrote these, we used powerpoint slides instead of bulletins, and I unfortunately don’t have those files anymore.
However what we typically do now is have one of the readers preface the reading by giving a short introduction like the one I’ve included below. Also, it can help to instruct the reader who will say the lines preceding the congregation’s response to look up at the congregation to cue them in to participate. For the rest of the reading, all the readers were looking at their scripts, so the eye contact can be an effective way to invite the congregation to participate at those key moments.
Intro: During the Gospel reading, the congregation plays the part of the crowd. On the slide (or, in your bulletin), you will see the congregation’s responses along with the lines preceding them. Also note that the congregation stands when the people come to the Place of the Skull and remains standing until the end of the reading.
And then the below bits can be on a single slide or inserted into a bulletin:
Reader: Blasphemy!
Reader: People, what is your decision?
People: He deserves death.
***
Reader: Crucify Him!
Reader: People, what will you do with this Jesus who is called Christ?
People: Crucify Him!
***
Reader: And when they came tot he place that is called The Skull
The congregation stands for the remainder of the reading
***
Reader: This is the King of the Jews.
Reader: People, hail your King.
People: Hail, King of the Jews!
Does this help? Let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Lenten blessings+
Marissa Burt
Keep making Reader’s Theater scripts like this through the Bible! We’re going to use your Luke 22 Good Friday one this Friday. Looking forward to it! Been awhile since we’ve incorporated drama into our services. This seems like something perfect for the stage we’re at. Thanks SO much for posting!
I’m so pleased to hear this! Thank you for your encouraging words and I pray that we all would grow in an awareness of God’s nearness this Holy Week.
Marissa
So thankful I found this! I plan to use one on Good Friday this year. Would you please send me the slides.
Thanks.
Ann
Hi Ann! I’m so happy that these resources might be useful to you! First, let me direct you to this page at prayersofthefaithful.org where I’ve included a more polished version of the readings with highlighted parts for each reader. Also, I thought I had edited out all bits about the slides – alas! At the church where I wrote these, we used powerpoint slides instead of bulletins, and I unfortunately don’t have those files anymore.
However what we typically do now is have one of the readers preface the reading by giving a short introduction like the one I’ve included below. Also, it can help to instruct the reader who will say the lines preceding the congregation’s response to look up at the congregation to cue them in to participate. For the rest of the reading, all the readers were looking at their scripts, so the eye contact can be an effective way to invite the congregation to participate at those key moments.
Intro: During the Gospel reading, the congregation plays the part of the crowd. On the slide (or, in your bulletin), you will see the congregation’s responses along with the lines preceding them. Also note that the congregation stands when the people come to the Place of the Skull and remains standing until the end of the reading.
And then the below bits can be on a single slide or inserted into a bulletin:
Reader: Blasphemy!
Reader: People, what is your decision?
People: He deserves death.
***
Reader: Crucify Him!
Reader: People, what will you do with this Jesus who is called Christ?
People: Crucify Him!
***
Reader: And when they came tot he place that is called The Skull
The congregation stands for the remainder of the reading
***
Reader: This is the King of the Jews.
Reader: People, hail your King.
People: Hail, King of the Jews!
Does this help? Let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Lenten blessings+
Marissa Burt
Thank you very much for this. It has answered my prayer.Denst
Wonderful! I’m so thankful to hear this. If you’d like the most recent version, download from our new site: http://www.prayersofthefaithful.org/readers-theater.html
Lenten blessings – Marissa
Thank you so much. I plan to use the Mark narrative at our weekly Lenten soup and bread suppers at St. Paul Lutheran in Berlin NH. This is exactly what I have been looking for.
I’m happy to hear this. Praying that the Lord would bless your Lenten time together. Marissa
do you still have the powerpoint for the Mark reading? Could you send? We are hoping to do reading for Palm/Passion Sunday
Hi Lara! My apologies for a very late reply. Perhaps this will still be useful to you, though? I’m so happy that these resources might be useful to you! First, let me direct you to this page at prayersofthefaithful.org where I’ve included a more polished version of the readings with highlighted parts for each reader. Also, I thought I had edited out all bits about the slides – alas! At the church where I wrote these, we used powerpoint slides instead of bulletins, and I unfortunately don’t have those files anymore.
However what we typically do now is have one of the readers preface the reading by giving a short introduction like the one I’ve included below. Also, it can help to instruct the reader who will say the lines preceding the congregation’s response to look up at the congregation to cue them in to participate. For the rest of the reading, all the readers were looking at their scripts, so the eye contact can be an effective way to invite the congregation to participate at those key moments.
Intro: During the Gospel reading, the congregation plays the part of the crowd. On the slide (or, in your bulletin), you will see the congregation’s responses along with the lines preceding them. Also note that the congregation stands when the people come to the Place of the Skull and remains standing until the end of the reading.
And then the below bits can be on a single slide or inserted into a bulletin:
Reader: Blasphemy!
Reader: People, what is your decision?
People: He deserves death.
***
Reader: Crucify Him!
Reader: People, what will you do with this Jesus who is called Christ?
People: Crucify Him!
***
Reader: And when they came tot he place that is called The Skull
The congregation stands for the remainder of the reading
***
Reader: This is the King of the Jews.
Reader: People, hail your King.
People: Hail, King of the Jews!
Does this help? Let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Lenten blessings+
Marissa Burt
[…] Some congregations use this Sunday to focus on the Passion of Christ (especially if they will not have a Good Friday service). One suggestion is to use Luke’s text as readers’ theatre, during the time ordinarily allotted for scripture reading and sermon. 4 parts, plus several places where the whole congregation speaks out as the “crowd”, may be found here: https://oratiocontemplativa.wordpress.com/readers-theater-3/ […]
Hello! Which Bible translation are your scripts based upon? Thanks!
Hi Sean, thy are based on the ESV. It’s been many years now since I wrote them, but if I remember correctly, the script is almost exactly aligned with the text, just scripted with overlapping voices and repetition for emphasis. Hope this helps! M