Church Skits & Plays
A Good Friday skitRemember Me4 actors · 3–4 min

Easter · 4 actors · 3–4 minutes · Adults

Remember Me

Two thieves crucified beside Jesus mock Him along with the soldier below, until one of them goes quiet and keeps looking at the empty center. A serious Good Friday skit for three actors and one unseen voice, built on Luke 23:39–43.

$8USD, tax included
  • Instant PDF download, yours to keep
  • Performance rights for your whole church
  • 30-day refund if it doesn’t fit your church
Running time3–4 minutes
Cast4 roles · Adults
PrepMemorized, with two rehearsals. The voice needs to be at only one of them.
Best forGood Friday service, Tenebrae, before a sermon on Luke 23:39–43
ScriptureLuke 23:36–43; Matthew 27:44; Mark 15:31–32 (KJV)
ThemeOn the cross, Jesus answered a guilty man’s “remember me” with a promise: “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
FormatPrintable PDF

About the skit

Late morning at Calvary. The center of the stage is your church’s cross or an empty space, and nobody is on it: Jesus is never shown. A soldier with a jug of sour wine reads the sign and holds a cup just out of reach. The two thieves join in the mocking, and the first one tries every way down: buried money for the soldier, blame for his partner, demands shouted at the empty center.

Then the second thief stops laughing and keeps looking at the center, and the skit never explains why. What he says next comes straight from Luke 23:40–42, in the order Luke gives it, and the answer from the empty center is one sentence of Scripture, spoken by an unseen voice. Nobody on stage speaks after it.

Written for a Good Friday service or Tenebrae, with no humor. It runs about three minutes, or about four with the pastor’s reading of Luke 23:44–49 that follows, and then a hymn. Three adults and an unseen voice, memorized, with two rehearsals. The staging notes cover standing the thieves safely on low boxes with nobody hanging from anything, playing the soldier flat and cold, and leaving the second thief’s change unexplained.

Read the first page

(Everyone is already in place. Nobody moves for a slow count of five, so the congregation has time to look at the empty center.)

(THE SOLDIER squints up at the center, at the sign, and reads it slowly, word by word.)

THE SOLDIER: "This is the King of the Jews." (He snorts.) King.

(He gets up, pours a cup from the jug and holds it up toward the center, just out of reach.)

THE SOLDIER: Thirsty? (beat) If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.

(He sets the cup down beside the jug and sits back down.)

THE FIRST THIEF: (through his teeth, toward the center) He saved others; himself he cannot save.

THE SECOND THIEF: (joining in, louder) Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.

THE SOLDIER: That's it. Give it to Him. (He glances out at the congregation.) Look at them all. Standing there staring.

THE FIRST THIEF: (to the center) They said you healed the blind. They said you raised the dead. Go on, then. Get yourself down.

The script continues in the full PDF.

Characters

  • The First Thief, crucified on one side; angry to the end, and loudest at the man in the middle
  • The Second Thief, crucified on the other side; mocks with the others at first, then goes quiet
  • The Soldier, on duty at the crosses; bored, hot and contemptuous; a man or a woman
  • The Voice, heard, never seen: Jesus, voiced by an adult man who speaks one sentence from the empty center

Props

  • Two sturdy boxes or low risers, about a foot high
  • Two soft rope loops, never knotted
  • A low stool or a crate
  • A clay jug and a cup
  • Optional: two plain wooden crosses
  • Optional: a sign reading THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS

What you get

  • The full script with stage directions
  • Cast list, props list and simple staging notes
  • Four discussion questions for a small group, youth group or Sunday school class
  • Performance rights for your church: perform it as often as you like and print copies for your cast

Performance rights

One purchase covers one church or ministry. Perform it as many times as you like, make copies for everyone in the cast and crew, adapt the lines and include it in your livestream. Please don’t resell the script or share the file publicly. Read the full license.

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Questions

Can I change the names or lines?

Yes. Change names and genders, trim lines for time or adapt a joke for your church. The script is yours to fit to your people.

Can we record and stream the performance?

Yes. You can include it in your livestream and post the recording on your church’s own channels.

How do I get the file after I buy?

Right after checkout you get a download link on the confirmation page and by email. It works for up to 20 downloads, and each copy is marked with your order so it stays licensed to your church.

Who is the seller on my receipt?

Payments are processed by Link, Stripe’s checkout, which acts as the reseller. Your card statement shows LINK.COM* CHURCHSKITS. Questions about the script itself come to us at hello@churchskits.org.

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