Palm Sunday

Drama Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Uses the play Hosanna in the Highest Heaven by LD Mckenzie

Note about this play:
There is one speaking part, the narrator, a donkey named Danny. Other cast members play out actions as Danny narrates them. They can say them out loud in tableaux after narrative for each scene. Or in the middle during each scene. May depend on energy level of your kids.

Abbreviating the play for younger children
We used this play in 06 with a fair sized multi-age group. A five yr old girl was keen to be Danny. There was no way she could read all Danny's lines. Thinking quickly, we used only Scene 4 of the play, mainly acting along with me as adult narrator. The kids got quite caught up in deciding what kind of people (or animals) they would have been on the side of the parade route. We made simple costumes, then walked thru once or twice. Our Sunday school time is short, so we didn't have a lot of time before the grownups came downstairs for coffee and squares and to watch our play.

Leader Preparation:

• Read the script ahead of time
• Gather the materials

Materials List:

• Costumes and Props optional

Presentation

Opening- Welcome and Lesson Introduction:

Greet the children and Introduce yourself and any helpers that you have.

Open with a prayer. 

Dig- Main Content and Reflection: 

Hosanna in the Highest Heaven

Written by LD McKenzie.

Cast:
Danny the Donkey (Narrator), street dogs, Jesus, disciples, donkey owner, crowd, Pharisees

Props:
Palm branches (or tapered strips of long green construction paper), cloaks or coats, 2 real or fake potted plants to form city gates, city sign for 'Jerusalem,' sign for 'Temple' at other end of parade route, maybe temple mural on large paper taped to one end of room.

Scene 1: Approaching Jerusalem [Characters named can act out actions described as donkey talks.]

Danny:
There I was minding my own business. There was a lot of hoo haa in town, lots of visitors and travellers. Because it was the Passover holiday.

Then I heard some interesting news from other animals through the Twilight Bark. It looked like there was a parade coming to town. A bunch of men were coming into town over the hills to the east. And a large crowd was starting to follow them.

The street dogs said the leader was some kind of king. But they weren't so sure about that. They said he had no horse. He came on foot. I mean, come on, a king with no horse???!!!

They also said other humans were getting all crabby and whispering because this king kept doing tricks. Like making humans who couldn't see suddenly able to see. That's one thing I will never understand about humans. Why it bothers them when something nice happens to someone else.

[Danny stops talking. Attention diverts to small parade arriving at city gates. Could act out healing scene if you wish. Might need blindfold to dramatize healing of a blind man.

Jesus then calls one of disciples forward and either says out loud or in whispers for him to go find him a donkey.]

Scene 2: Sending for the donkey.

Danny: Next thing I knew, this shabby guy that smelled like fish started untying my harness.

My owner said, "What do you think you're doing."

The fishy guy said: "The Lord needs it, and he'll bring it back as soon as he's done with it."

Well, my owner must have heard the news on the Twilight Bark too, because he said no more. He just let the fishy guy lead me away.

Scene 3: Meeting the King

Danny: Soon I found myself in front of the one who must be the king. At least that was what the people were starting to chant. "Son of David,' they called him. David is one of their famous old kings.

The dogs were right. He didn't look like much of a king to me. He didn't have any armour. No chariot. No fancy robes. Just the most beaten up sandals you ever saw.

But I could see what everyone meant. There was something different about him. Something out of the ordinary and special.

Someone threw a cloak across my back. And then this Jesus guy climbed on. This kind of freaked me out because I'd never carried a rider before. But he gave me a gentle pat on the neck. I figured that meant I was supposed to start walking. So I did.

Scene 4: The parade begins.

As we passed through the city gates, a fairly large crowd had gathered on both sides of the street.

All kinds of people threw coats and cloaks down into the street for me to walk across. Truth be told, it was the softest path I'd ever travelled.

Other people cut down leafy palm branches. Some threw these into the street. Others waved them in the air like green flags of peace. Or victory.

And everyone was doing this cheer. They said:

"Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna to the Son of David.

Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

Like I said, you never know about humans. I'm not sure what they were so whipped up about. Maybe they hoped this Jesus, this king, would help them to see again, like he did for the blind man. Or help them with whatever their problems were. At any rate, they were sure glad to see him.

Scene 5: Not all happy campers.

Danny: But I could tell not everyone in the crowd was thrilled to see him. I caught sight of some of the crossed arms, crabby whispering people. They had that look humans get when they want to kick a dog or smack a donkey. Not every human is like this. Not many, really. But there are always a few bad apples.

One of the crabby guys said:

"Teacher. "

(And here I thought he was a king, not a teacher.)

"Tell your disciples to stop." (Disciples, I think, were the fishy guys.)

But Jesus just said:

"If these people were silent, the stones would cry out."

And you know what? There was so much cheering and palm waving and hope in the air, I think he was right.

Scene 6: End of parade.

Danny: Then we did a turn around the temple. The king checked everything out. Finally he rode back out of town to the east with the 12 main fishy guys that started the parade.

Oh yes, he did hop off at the gates and send me back to my owner.

Even though he wasn't dressed fancy, this king sure knew how to put on a show. It was one parade to remember.

I heard on the Twilight Bark that there were some dark days ahead. The king died. I bet those crabby guys had something to do with it.

But then I heard people thought they saw him out and about even after that. They called it a miracle. And you could almost smell in the air the faint crushed green scent of the leafy hopefulness that had breezed through town during that parade.

I'll never forget it!

THE END

Closing:

Close with a prayer.

>>> This unit has TONS more ideas for arts, kitchen, games. For more info, click . here

 A lesson written by LD Mckenzie 

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