IT S ABOUT TIME. by Wallace N. Davis

IT S ABOUT TIME by Wallace N. Davis

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It s About Time A children s Easter play by Wallace N. Davis

2 CAST OF CHARACTERS Albertina Einstein Brilliant Christian woman of science, but most people think she s a mad scientist Clark Dent TV newsman who only believes in hard facts Mimi Bolson Camera person who has to see it to believe it Kerry Light Clark and Mimi s boss Patius Roman Centurion Esther & Naomi Children on the road from Calvary Peter Disciple who denied Christ Thomas Disciple who has to see before he can believe Mary & Joanna Women who were at the Crucifixion and the tomb

3 PRODUCTION NOTES Summary Reporter Clark Dent gets an assignment to cover a story on Christianity for the six o clock news. He and photographer Mimi Bolson hit the streets, encounter scientist Albertina Einstein, and travel back to 33 A.D., where eyewitnesses describe the Crucifixion. Setting Newspaper office, outside Albertina s lab, and Golgotha. You will need a desk and chair for Kerry s office, as well as a small table for the coffeepot. Nothing except the time machine is needed for Albertina s lab. For Golgotha, a backdrop with three cross silhouettes is a nice touch. Props Small globe, video camera, coffeepot and cups, time machine (large appliance box decorated with rad symbols and flashing Christmas lights), oversized wrist control device, hammer, camouflage material, biblical robe, nail, cocoa or other substance to simulate rust, silk flowers. Costumes Professional attire for the TV crew. Clark and Kerry wear ties and perhaps suit coats. Clark needs a hat. Mimi wears a jacket with a skirt or dress pants. Albertina wears a white lab coat and large black horn-rimmed glasses. She may also have crazy hair. Patius may wear a helmet (football helmet spray-painted gold), a robe with a shield or breastplate attached to the front, a skirt of leather strips (may be made of material or duct tape strips, possibly even paper, that are affixed to a belt), and sandals. The remaining characters may all wear biblical robes and headpieces with sandals. Sound Effects The sounds for the time machine may be accomplished by popping balloons, playing slide whistles, clanging pots, and shaking bolts in a can Off-Stage. Approximate Running Time Fifteen to twenty minutes.

4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Scene 1 (Office of news boss KERRY LIGHT. KERRY is sitting at his desk, twirling a small globe. CLARK DENT and MIMI BOLSON are by the coffee urn.) KERRY: (Stands up and shouts.) Clark Dent, get in here! CLARK: (Sets down coffee cup and hurries into the office.) Yeah, Boss? What s up? (Sits across from KERRY.) KERRY: I want you and Mimi to do an Easter story for the six o clock news. Something that ll make folks feel good and give them hope. (Twirls the globe; sets it on the desk.) CLARK: (Frowns and leans forward.) Feel-good news? You ve gotta be kidding! (Picks up the globe.) The world s a mess. There s hard news out there: war, terrorists, and corporate rip-offs. People need to know the facts. (Slams globe back on desk.) KERRY: That s my point. The world is a mess. People need to hear good news. Something that ll make a difference in their lives. CLARK: I m not doing some stupid fuzzy-wuzzy story about bunnies and chickies! KERRY: Clark, I m not talking about bunnies here. I m talking about love, forgiveness, and hope for the future. CLARK: Religious junk? I d rather cover a PTA bake sale than that! Boss, I do edgy stories with grit. KERRY: I want you to do a piece about Christianity. CLARK: No way! I ll quit before I do a story about all that God stuff. KERRY: (Stands and points at CLARK.) That s your assignment. Hit the streets. The clock is ticking. CLARK: (Stands; angrily faces KERRY.) You ve lost your mind! I ll hit the streets and come back with some real news for you. I ll find a drug raid, a five-alarm fire, or a shootout. KERRY: No, Clark. I ve had it with your bad attitude. Christianity is your story. Take it or leave it. CLARK: I m a newsman, not an amen Charlie. I quit! (CLARK storms out of the office, grabs his hat, puts it on, and hurries out to the street. MIMI follows him with the camera.)

5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Scene 2 (The street with EINSTEIN s lab at the end. ALBERTINA is busy putting the final touches on the time machine. CLARK and MIMI stand at the other end of the street.) MIMI: What happened, Clark? CLARK: The boss is Fruit Loops! Kerry wanted us to do a story on hope and love for Easter. Can you believe it? MIMI: I wouldn t mind seeing some hope and love, but you can t get that on film. CLARK: Exactly! It doesn t exist! That s why I quit! MIMI: You quit? What are you gonna do about paying for your new monster truck? CLARK: (Claps hand to his forehead.) Oh, man! What am I gonna do? I need that paycheck. MIMI: No problem. (Aims down the street with the camera.) We ll find a huge story, get it on tape, and Kerry will take you back. (ALBERTINA pounds time machine with hammer creating an explosion with clanging sound effects.) Hey, someone up there must like us. (Points toward the noise.) There s our big story. Come on! (CLARK and MIMI hurry over to ALBERTINA. MIMI starts videotaping. CLARK straightens his hat and holds a microphone.) CLARK: Excuse me, can you tell us what happened? ALBERTINA: Nothing happened. Everything s working perfectly. (Plugs in lights.) This is my greatest invention. CLARK and MIMI: (Together) What is it? ALBERTINA: It s a time machine. Haven t you ever wanted to go back in time? CLARK: I sure have! I wish I could travel back to yesterday, when I still had a job and a new truck. ALBERTINA: Well, you re just in time. I m going on an experimental trip. Come on! (ALBERTINA presses a button. Noisy sound effects are heard. She steps inside.) CLARK: (Backing away) I m not that desperate! MIMI: It d make a great story, Clark. It might even get your old job back. Come on! I m going! I need to see it to believe it. (Disappears inside time machine.) CLARK: (Covers his head with his hands; jumps in) Yaaaa!

6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Scene 3 (Golgotha backdrop with three empty crosses. Time machine is on one side of the stage, rocking. Sound effects of landing. PATIUS, a centurion, is laying a robe at the foot of the middle cross. ALBERTINA, MIMI, and CLARK climb out of the machine.) MIMI: Where are we? (Starts videotaping.) ALBERTINA: (Looks at a big watch-like contraption on her wrist.) We re at Golgotha, the hill where Jesus was crucified. (Taps watch.) It should be the year 33 A.D., but I can t get this contraption to tell me the exact day. CLARK: 33 A.D.? I thought we were going back to yesterday so I could get my job back. ALBERTINA: I never said that. You never asked where I was going. If you had, I would ve told you I was coming here. Everything s working perfectly. (Taps watch again.) Well, almost everything. CLARK: (Shakes fist at ALBERTINA.) You re insane! Get us back where we belong right now! ALBERTINA: I traveled back in time to prove Jesus rose from the dead, and that s what I m gonna do. You guys can come with me or wait here with the time machine. (Covers machine with camouflage cloth before walking toward cross.) I ll be back. MIMI: Come on, Clark! I m going with her. This could be the greatest story we ever get. (Follows ALBERTINA, videotaping everything.) CLARK: Somebody ought to tell Einstein there s no way she ll prove any of this. They ought to spell crucifixion: cruci- F-I-C-T-I-O-N. The whole Easter story is nothing more than a nursery rhyme. MIMI: Stop whining and get over here, Clark. We ve got an eyewitness. (CLARK joins MIMI and ALBERTINA who are talking to PATIUS, the Roman soldier.) ALBERTINA: Where s Jesus? PATIUS: You missed the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It was the most horrible crime I ve ever witnessed. ALBERTINA: What do you mean?

7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 PATIUS: Jesus hadn t done anything wrong, but we put him to death. CLARK: Jesus really died here? PATIUS: Yes, he did. I put the nails in his hands and gambled to win his robe. (Holds up robe.) Now I know Jesus was more than just a man. I m putting the robe on the cross to show everyone who walks by that Jesus was a King. He is the Son of God. (PETER approaches.) CLARK: If Jesus was the Son of God, why didn t he come down from the cross so everybody could see and believe? PETER: You don t get it, do you? Jesus died on the cross to take my place. MIMI: Who are you? PETER: I m Peter, the disciple who disowned Jesus. But he died right here for my sin, and I m forgiven. ALBERTINA: This is wonderful! CLARK: An empty cross doesn t prove anything. If Jesus had come down off the cross, that would be a big story. PETER: What s the bigger miracle? If Jesus would ve taken himself off the cross, or Jesus rising from the dead? CLARK: I don t believe he rose from the dead. PETER: (Points toward the tomb.) Go to the tomb and see for yourself. Scene 4 (MIMI, CLARK, and ALBERTINA walk toward the tomb. MIMI is still videotaping. Two children, ESTHER and NAOMI, walk toward them.) MIMI: I got some great footage of the cross. CLARK: We can t use that on the news! Anyone could use computer-generated graphics to fake this whole story. ESTHER: Hey, mister. I ve got something that isn t fake. Check this out. (Holds up a nail.) NAOMI: It s a nail from the cross where Jesus died. ALBERTINA: Really? This is better than I could ve imagined. (Reaches for the nail, but ESTHER snatches it away.)

8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 ESTHER: This is a souvenir. It ll cost you. NAOMI: It s worth a lot of money. How much will you give us for it? ALBERTINA: (Smiles.) Nothing. That nail bought my salvation. It s God s priceless gift to me. No amount of money could buy my soul. No one could afford it. That s why God tells us we only need to believe in Jesus, who died for our sins. It s grace; a gift we can t buy. CLARK: I ll buy it. (Reaches in his pocket and comes up empty.) I m broke. (Holds out his hand to MIMI.) MIMI: Don t look at me. You re the one who quit your job. (CLARK grabs MIMI s camera and hands it to the GIRLS.) Hey! You can t take my camera! (GIRLS grab camera, give CLARK the nail, and run Off-Stage.) CLARK: (Holds up the nail.) We don t need the camera. We take this back and do DNA tests and all that carbon dating scientific stuff to it, and we ve got the story of the century. (MIMI scowls.) Isn t that right, Einstein? ALBERTINA: (Points at the tomb.) That s the only proof you need. Hurry! (ALBERTINA, MIMI, and CLARK go to the tomb. MIMI looks inside.) MIMI: It s empty. ALBERTINA: I was hoping I d get here before it happened. Have I missed the resurrection? (THOMAS enters and stands beside MIMI, looking into the tomb.) THOMAS: Yes, Jesus is alive. I ve seen him. CLARK: Do you have proof he s alive? THOMAS: You re just like me. I wouldn t believe until I saw Jesus with my own eyes. I wanted to touch the nail prints in his palms and the place where the spear pierced his side. MIMI: I know you! THOMAS: How? MIMI: I ve read about you. In the future they call you Doubting Thomas, because you didn t believe in the Resurrection. THOMAS: That s what people remember about me? (Shakes his head.) I want them to know something else that s

9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 much more important. CLARK: What s that? THOMAS: I want everyone to know you don t have to see Jesus to believe his word. He kept his promise to die for us and rise from the dead. MIMI: You re right. I believe it. THOMAS: Good for you. (Smiles and exits the stage. There are more clanging sound effects. ALBERTINA looks at wrist device.) ALBERTINA: We have to go back to the time machine. Something weird is happening. CLARK: Weird? This whole day has been incredibly weird. ALBERTINA: My machine s destabilizing. If we don t leave soon, we may never make it back to our own time. (CLARK, MIMI, and ALBERTINA hurry to the time machine. JOANNA and MARY are walking toward them with flowers.) JOANNA: Have you heard the good news? (Hands MIMI a flower.) MIMI: Thank you. It makes up for the camera someone gave away. CLARK: That was the best trade of our lives. (Holds up nail.) You ll thank me when we get back with the big news. MARY: You already know the big news? MIMI: Yes, Jesus died for the sin of the world, and he rose from the dead. MARY: That s right, but it doesn t mean anything unless you believe it and take it to heart. ALBERTINA: We have to go. CLARK: Why don t you come with us? I could do a great eyewitness interview with one of you. JOANNA: No, I need to be a witness here. MARY: You go back to your home and witness to those Jesus loves. That s everybody on the planet, you know. ALBERTINA: We will. Come on! (ALBERTINA uncovers the time machine, beckons to MIMI and CLARK, then pounds the machine with her fist and jumps in. More clanging sound effects. MIMI and CLARK follow.)

Thank you for reading this free excerpt from: IT'S ABOUT TIME by Wallace N. Davis and Brenda Norris. For performance rights and/or a complete copy of the script, please contact us at: CHRISTIAN PUBLISHERS P.O. Box 248 - Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52406 Toll Free: 1-844-841-6387 - Fax (319) 368-8011 customerservice@christianpub.com