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This forum is for posting Drama and/or "Newsroom" Workshop lesson plans and ideas for teaching the story of The Road to Emmaus,  Luke 24: 13-35

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Interview at Emmaus

TV Interview Show

The following script uses a Drama Workshop theme sometimes called "Newsroom."  You can read more about the Newsroom approach and see photos here. The "show" or interviews are recorded using a video camera or cellphone. Below you'll find our full script.

Notes:

There are many ways you can do this "interview at Emmaus." One is to simply use the following script where the characters are in a "studio."  The set up is minimal.

Another is to have the teacher be "the reporter" asking questions "ON THE EMMAUS SCENE" with the characters when you find them at various points along the journey.

Since the story only has 3 characters, you can include more students in the action by making them part of the crowd along the road or "people in the studio audience" -- and interview them about the story too.

Making a prepared adult be the reporter helps direct the story, prompt dialog, and keep it moving. It also allows the reporter to use a script (their "interview notes), and the actors to come up with their own answers in rehearsal so they don't need a script. Helps to have the reporter ask "leading" questions too.

For example, the first time the reporter shows up they can find just the two disciples walking by themselves, then Jesus can suddenly walk up and join them -- making the reporter ask several other questions. Then the reporter can do an "on the scene" report  while Jesus and the two disciples are beginning to eat, then one final scene interviewing the two disciples as they excitedly return to Jerusalem -- asking them what they are going to say, etc.



To turn this into a lesson plan:

  • Add and opening and conclusion.
  • The script below functions as a version of scripture. The story is long, so you might not have time to read the scriptural version.
  • If you want to include a reading, consider using a storybook version.
  • Conclude the lesson by viewing the recording of the "show" and asking some follow up questions.

Cast:

  • Anchor person on the Israel Nightly News
  • Reporter
  • Mr. amd Mrs. Cleopas


Scene: "TV JERUSALEM studios", switching to "A Home in Emmaus"

Script

ANCHOR PERSON: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, this beautiful evening in April. We have heard strange news indeed! Word has gone out that a recently crucified man named Jesus of Nazareth, put to death for rebellion against the government of Rome, has somehow got out of his tomb and is not dead at all. In fact, his friends claim that he was, in fact, dead, but has miraculously come to life and that they have seen him. Can this be true? Our roving reporter, Hannah Peterson, has an interview with a couple who have agreed to tell their story.

Camera on Mr. and Mrs. Cleopas

REPORTER: Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Cleopas. I understand that you have had a fantastic experience.

MR. CLEOPAS: Yes, indeed, we have, and we’re ready to tell the world!

MRS. CLEOPAS: It was different from anything we’ ve ever known before!

REPORTER: Suppose you begin at the beginning, then.

MR. CLEOPAS: Well, we were in Jerusalem several days for the Passover, and we heard and saw the awful things that happened. We saw our beloved Master taken by soldiers, tried and found guilty. It was shocking, dreadful!

MRS. CLEOPAS: We saw our dear Master nailed to a cross between two robbers!

REPORTER: Back up a minute. If your Master was so good, why was he tried like a criminal and sentenced to death?

MR. CLEOPAS: The High Priest and the rulers didn’t like him.

REPORTER: Now, didn’t they say he went around healing the sick and giving sight to the blind? How did that get him in trouble?

MRS. CLEOPAS: He said God was his Father, and he pointed out the greed and selfishness of the leaders. And when he said he was the Son of God, they were so mad they had to get rid of him.

REPORTER: How could they do that? Israel is under Rome’s power, and the High Priest did not have power to kill Jesus of Nazareth.

MR. CLEOPAS: They made it look like a plot against Rome, so Pilate the Roman Governor had to pronounce the sentence. He didn’t think Jesus a plotter at all.

REPORTER: That’s not proper Roman justice! Rome has good laws!

MRS. CLEOPAS: The crowd yelled “Crucify him!” so loud that Pilate decided to give in. Silly man, he got a pan of water and washed his hands, as if that took the blame away from him.
We women followed Jesus in tears, but he told us not to weep for him but for ourselves and our children. Jesus was always thinking of others first.

REPORTER: All right, so did Jesus really die on the cross?

MR. CLEOPAS: Yes, indeed, he did -- we saw him dead, and some of us watched Joseph of Arimathea take down his body and put it in a tomb.There was a double guard there to make sure nobody took the body.

REPORTER: What day was he buried?

MR. CLEOPAS: Friday evening. We were so sad, we stayed with friends another day, to mourn him.

REPORTER: When did you leave Jerusalem to come back home to Emmaus?

MRS. CLEOPAS: Sunday, the first day of the week. We had to get home after the Sabbath and tend to things, take up our lives again.

REPORTER: Then, what happened on the way? This is the story I’m looking for.

MR. CLEOPAS: We were walking the seven miles home, gloomy and sad, and a stranger came to walk beside us. We didn’t know him, but he seemed interested in what we’d been talking about -- the wonderful Master Jesus was, and how awful the things that happened to him. He asked questions as if he’d not heard anything about it! So we told him the whole gruesome tale, how our dear Master was captured, tried late at night, condemned to death, and crucified. We told him that some women claimed they’d seen an angel in the empty tomb, but we didn’t believe it. He listened carefully, and then he scolded us!

REPORTER: Scolded you! For what?

MRS. CLEOPAS: For not believing him when he told us beforehand what was going to happen. He DID say he was going to be killed and rise again, but we couldn’t take it in. Whoever rose from the dead before?

MR. CLEOPAS: Well. you remember, dear, Jesus’ friend Lazarus was made alive again.

REPORTER: I heard that story once, too -- is it true?

MR. CLEOPAS: Yes, indeed. To get back to Jesus, after he called us foolish for not believing the prophets, he went through the whole Scripture, pointing out that Moses told Israel to look for another prophet to take his place. He went through the Psalms and showed how David called him “Lord”, and he talked about the Suffering Servant that Isaiah foretold. He was so wonderful in explaining Jesus’ death and resurrection to us, that we invited him in to supper when we got home.

MRS. CLEOPAS: When we sat down and he broke the bread in blessing, we recognized him all at once! Nobody else broke bread quite that way! We were amazed!

REPORTER: You mean, it really was Jesus?

MR. CLEOPAS: Indeed it was! In a new body, or we’d have noticed. But then, he disappeared without going out the door. We were so excited, we got up and walked all the seven miles back to Jerusalem!

REPORTER:  For goodness’ sake, why?

MR. CLEOPAS: Don’t you see, that meant new life for us, too! Then we remembered odd things he’d told us, like waiting in Jerusalem till we got Heavenly power. Told us about the Holy Spirit, about being his witnesses and everything. We had to get with the other disciples and make sure everybody got the word.

REPORTER: And did others have the same experience?

MRS. CLEOPAS: In different ways. Mary Magdalene saw him in the garden and thought he was the gardener till he spoke to her.Then she was too happy for words.

MR. CLEOPAS: Simon saw him and was telling us about the experience, when all of a sudden, jesus stood there and said”Peace!” To assure us that he was real and not a ghost, he showed his scars, and then he ate a snack to convince us. It was glorious!

REPORTER: So, where is Jesus now?

MR. and MRS. CLEOPAS together: Gone back to Heaven. We saw that too!

REPORTER: And what will your group do now?

MR. and MRS. CLEOPAS together:  Tell the whole world, our Lord is risen!

Switch to Israel Nightly News

ANCHOR PERSON: There are rumors that some of the disciples are being jailed for their loyalty to Jesus of Nazareth. We will hear more of that, later on.

END


Interview at Emmaus TV Program written by Evelyn Tower from Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church,
Richmond, VA, USA.


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Last edited by Neil MacQueen
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The Walk to Emmaus

A News Room "interview" Script

Rehearse then videotape this news broadcast of the story of Jesus' appearance on the Road to Emmaus. 

This particular script only has 4 parts in it: The News Anchor, The Reporter, Cleopas, and Cleopas' Friend.  If you have more than four students, add a part for Jesus and interview him, or add "people in the crowds" who have doubts about what they've just heard, but some want to believe, and what they will do to investigate, find out more.

We suggest you have a teen or adult helper operate the camera.  Have a prop microphone too.

See the notes in the previous Newsroom posting above for more ideas and a different kind of script.

While you may not use the full script, it has a lot of good dialog and ideas in it!



SCRIPT

News Anchor: We interrupt this program with a special report.

I am Demetrius, son of Aaron, with Bible News Tonight. Three days after Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and buried, his body has disappeared from the tomb, and there have been several reports of “sightings” of the risen Jesus, alive and well. For one eyewitness account of such a sighting, we go now to Jacob, son of Matthias, with a live report from Emmaus.

Reporter (Jacob): Thank you Demetrius. I’m here in Emmaus, a small village about seven miles from Jerusalem, at the home of Cleopas (Cle-a-pas), who claims that Jesus was in his home just last night.

Reporter: Mr. Cleopas, when did Jesus arrive at your house?

Cleopas: My friend and I were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. We were very sad that Jesus was dead and all our hopes for a Messiah were gone when suddenly, out of nowhere, this guy walks up behind us and asks us “What’s going on?”

Friend: We couldn’t believe he hadn’t heard about Jesus’s arrest and crucifixion. We had no idea he was Jesus. He just didn’t look like him at first.

Cleopas: I said to him, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened in the last few days.”*

Friend: The dude says, “What things?”

Cleopas (interrupting his friend): But you know what was so strange? I didn’t feel so sad anymore after he joined us. I started feeling really peaceful.

Friend: Yeah, me too. I got this really warm feeling.

Cleopas: We told him how the women had gone to the tomb and found his body was gone--disappeared--nothing. The he starts in on us saying, “You are such foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the scriptures. Wasn’t is clearly predicted by the prophets that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his time of glory?”*

Friend: And then the dude started quoting scriptures off the top of his head--the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining what all the scriptures said about the Messiah. Man, he explained everything so clearly. I understood him better than any Rabbi I had ever heard! I hadn’t felt such peace in I don’t know when.

Cleopas: Still, we had no idea that he was Jesus--because Jesus was dead, of course. When we got into Emmaus, I asked him to come to my house for supper and offered him a place to spend the night. Since it was getting so late at night, he gladly accepted.

Friend: Then the coolest thing happened. He took the bread, asked God’s blessing on it, broke us, and gave it to us.

Cleopas: Yeah, and all of a sudden, just out of nowhere, we recognized him--it was Jesus!

Friend: And in almost the same instant, he vanished--poof--just completely disappeared.

Reporter:  And how did you feel? What was going through your mind.

Friend:  I didn't know what to think, I'm still not sure. Was it him? Was it a ghost? Did I imagine the whole thing?

Reporter: And you Cleopas?

Cleopas:  No doubt about it, it was Jesus. Reminded me of his last supper with him. He did the same thing. When he spoke, when you really started listening to what he said, your heart was telling you that this was the most true thing ever, the most important thing in your life.

Reporter:  And you friend didn't feel that way?

Friend: No, and I was right there. I don't understand how Cleopas is so sure, so full of faith, and I'm still wrestling with my doubts.  It may take me some time to understand it all.

Reporter: Well, there you have it, Demetrius, two very astonished people who say that Jesus of Nazareth, dead just three days ago, is now miraculously alive again.  But two very different feelings about what it all means.

News Anchor: Thank you, Jacob, for that live report from Emmaus. (Close back in on anchor at desk.) Could it be true? Could a man who was convicted and crucified have risen from the dead? There are two men in Emmaus who are convinced it’s true. We are getting reports in the news desk of many others who claim to have seen Jesus alive again. But what will it mean to those who believe it?  Will they all react the same way? Will everyone's lives be changed by his resurrection?  Or just some? And why?   We will keep you updated as other reports come in to us.  For World News Tonight, I’m Demetrius, son of Aaron.


A script written by Jan Marshall from Brenthaven Cumberland Pres. Brentwood, TN, USA with additions by the Rotation.org Content Team.
Printed from https://www.rotation.org

Last edited by Neil MacQueen

For a really simple set up, easy rehearsal, and no scripts that actors have to read, try the Shadow Theater technique!

In the Shadow Theater technique, a narrator(s) retell the story off-camera using a script or storybook, while actors "pose" and slowly move through several scenes while standing/moving/posting behind a backlit screen as they listen to the story.

Record it and view it because the kids will definitely want to see how it looks. If you have a lot of kids, you can split into two groups and have each re-enact the story behind the screen.

Read the tips for shadow screening here at Rotation.org

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