Church Skits & Plays
An Easter programThree Roads12–20 actors · 25 min

Easter · 12–20 actors · 25 minutes · All ages: adults and teens on the roads, children 4–12 in the crowd

Three Roads

Palm Sunday, Good Friday and the road to Emmaus, all played down your center aisle by a narrator, a crowd of children and a few adults. A full 25-minute Easter program with four hymns and one line for the whole congregation.

$16USD, 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 time25 minutes
Cast12–20 roles · All ages: adults and teens on the roads, children 4–12 in the crowd
PrepTwo rehearsals, the second a full run in the sanctuary with the pianist and the usher. The narrator reads from a lectern, and the children with lines learn one or two each.
Best forEaster program, morning or evening; an Easter Sunday family service; the close of a Holy Week series. Not for a Good Friday service: the first road has laughs, and the program ends on Easter.
ScriptureMark 11:8–10; Luke 19:41–42; Luke 23:26–28, 33; Luke 24:13–35 (KJV)
ThemeJesus rode into Jerusalem to cheers, carried His cross out of it, and rose on the third day. That same afternoon the risen Lord caught up with two followers who were walking away, opened the Scriptures to them, and made Himself known in the breaking of bread.
FormatPrintable PDF

About the skit

The center aisle is the road, three times. First a crowd of children pours in with branches and coats, led by a loud, hopeful man named Cleopas, and one child hoists a branch that is “a whole tree.” Nobody walks in the empty space in the middle, because that’s where Jesus is. Five days later Simon of Cyrene walks up the same aisle and is turned around with a cross on his shoulder.

On the third road, Cleopas walks away from Jerusalem with a dried palm branch, and a stranger falls in beside him and his companion. The Stranger, an adult man, speaks only words from Luke 24, and the program follows Luke 24:13–35 to the table at Emmaus and the run back in the dark, where the congregation finally reads its line.

About 25 minutes with four public-domain hymns, each covering a scene change, or about 20 with shorter singing. Twelve to twenty people, from a narrator at a lectern to children 4–12, and two rehearsals. The staging notes include a cue list for the usher and the pianist, where everyone stands, and how the Stranger leaves without a side door.

Read the first page

(The NARRATOR waits at the lectern until the room is quiet.)

NARRATOR: Welcome, and happy Easter. Before we begin, look at the aisle in front of you. From now until the last hymn, that aisle is a road. Between Palm Sunday and Easter afternoon, the Gospels tell us about three roads near Jerusalem. Different days, different people, and not one of them knew where the road was going. We're going to walk all three. (beat) One more thing. Somewhere in your bulletin there's a line printed in bold. That's your part. Don't read it yet. You'll know when.

The First Road: Into the City

NARRATOR: It's the Sunday we call Palm Sunday, a few days before Passover, and Jerusalem is full of pilgrims. Jesus is coming over the Mount of Olives, riding a colt, and the word has gone ahead of Him.

(The usher opens the back doors. The CHILDREN pour in with their branches, cheering and waving, in two groups, with an empty space about six feet long between the groups. CLEOPAS walks at the head of the first group, waving a green palm branch. Nobody ever walks in the empty space. That's where Jesus is. The crowd moves up the aisle without stopping. When the first group reaches the front, they turn around to face the room and the empty space; the second group stops behind it, in the aisle. Only then do the lines begin. The usher closes the doors when the last child is in.)

CHILD 1: He's coming! He's really coming!

CHILD 2: Where? I can't see!

CLEOPAS: Coats! Put your coats in the road!

(Children in the first group lay their coats on the aisle floor in front of the empty space.)

CHILD 3: (holding up a jacket) My good coat?

CLEOPAS: He's the King! Yes, your good coat!

(CHILD 4, at the back of the second group, hoists the enormous branch into the air.)

CHILD 4: I got a branch!

CHILD 5: That's a whole tree.

NARRATOR: "And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way."

CLEOPAS: Everybody! Hosanna!

CHILD 6: What does "Hosanna" mean?

CLEOPAS: It means "Save us now!" Shout it!

CHILD 6: (at the top of their lungs) SAVE US NOW!

The script continues in the full PDF.

Characters

  • Narrator, reads from a lectern; warm, clear and never rushed; can be split between two readers
  • Cleopas, a follower of Jesus: loud and hopeful on the first road, silent on the second, worn out on the third
  • The Companion, walks to Emmaus with Cleopas; Luke gives no name, so a man or a woman
  • The Stranger, the risen Jesus, not yet recognized; an adult man who speaks only words from Luke 24
  • The Voice, the same adult, heard once from beyond the back doors
  • Simon, Simon of Cyrene, coming into the city from the country; no lines
  • The Women of Jerusalem, 2–3 women or teen girls with head coverings; no lines
  • The Children, the palm crowd, ages 4–12, as many as you have; six of them have a short line or two
  • The Congregation, the disciples gathered in Jerusalem, with one line from Luke 24:34
  • Crew, not in costume: an usher for the back doors and two children’s helpers

Props

  • A lectern for the narrator
  • Branches for the children, and one much too big
  • Old coats and jackets to lay in the aisle
  • A light wooden cross about six feet tall
  • A walking stick and a cloth bundle for Simon
  • A green palm branch and a dried brown one for Cleopas
  • A small table, three stools and a round loaf under a cloth
  • The congregation’s line, in the bulletin or on the screen

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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