Alphabet Nativity Play

Click here to see a script preview to show how flexible and adaptable this script is.

THE minimum CAST:  

• 1 Narrator
• 1 person to peg/ blue tack the letters up
• ANY other number of participants (see below for ideas)

 Additional Options (I definitely recommend using the Instructor and Action Superstar for a uniquely interactive and fun nativity, with ‘audience participation’)

Despite being written as a simple nativity play, if you would like to have more complexity, or a larger cast the script would also provide parts for:

• More narrators (share the script as preferred)
• An optional “Instructor” (interacts with the audience and holds signs up for the audience to say.)
• An optional “Action Superstar” (to demonstrate the actions to the 26 keywords mentioned in the narration)
• Actors (traditional nativity costumes required) to mime the story as it is told.
• Dancing or singing angels (Use the shepherds on the hillside scene to include something of your own choice)
• Singers (optional opportunities provided to include small solos for angel, shepherds, and innkeeper.) 
• Children to do the suggested actions of the key words mentioned for each letter of the alphabet.
• A pianist or guitarist to play the songs using the sheet music provided, but backing music is also provided as mp3 files if you would prefer.

 RESOURCES REQUIRED:

• 2 washing lines, each long enough to hang 13 portrait sheets of A4 paper (at least 3 metres long each) and  space to hang the 2 washing lines up and peg 13 letters on each of them.
• OR space to blue tack the 26 illustrated letters when the keyword is mentioned
• 26 A4 sized illustrated alphabet letters (print off the pre-prepared document named “Alphabet Letters” which is included with your script)

This script is so simple and adaptable that it will work for any age, ability or size of cast and is especially well suited for special needs.  The basic cast requirement is:

• Narrator(s), with 116 lines to read, plus 8 optional
• 1 or preferably 2 people to peg/ blue tack the alphabet pictures up (or you may choose to have one child do each individual letter)

The following optional recommendations of the script aim to add more interest, complexity and involvement, so you can choose what you are able to include according to your circumstances.  (From my experience of using the script I can HIGHLY RECOMMEND including the Instructor for a fun interactive element with the audience, and the Action Superstar works brilliantly with the idea of getting the audience to participate with the actions in the recap poem at the end of the script)

• An ‘Instructor’ (talks to the audience and holds up signs for them to read aloud)
• An ‘Action Superstar’ who demonstrates the actions to the 26 keywords mentioned in the narration
• Children to do the actions to the keywords: this can be instead of or as well as an Action Superstar who could lead a whole class in doing the actions.
• Actors to mime any or all of the following roles as their part of the story is narrated:  Angel Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, Donkey, Caesar, Soldier, innkeepers, angels, shepherds, King Herod, Kings, Star. (No-one has any lines to say)
• Singers (there are 9 optional short songs which lend themselves to including solo parts, and even acting within the songs.  Just be inventive and have fun!)

The Alphabet Nativity Play is the ultimate script for flexibility, so it can be performed without any songs, or using your own choice of song, or maybe even using carols for the audience to join in.  However, for your ease I have included 9 optional short songs with easily remembered, repetitive lyrics sung to familiar children’s tunes as follows:

• An Angel Told Mary (To the tune of ‘The Arky, Arky song, otherwise known as ‘Rise and Shine’)
• Knock, Knock, Knocking (To the tune of ‘Ten Green Bottles’)
• Rockabye Jesus (to the tune of Rock-a-bye Baby)
• Hurry, Hurry, Off You Go (To the tune of ‘Horsey, Horsey’)
• We are Looking For a Baby (To the tune of ‘What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor’)
• Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (the original)
• Three Wise Men (To the tune of Three Blind Mice)
• Christmas Day’s On Its Way (To the tune of ‘Jingle Bells’)
• Hush Baby Jesus

Some simple mp3 backing tracks are provided in case you do not have any musicians, and sheet music is included at the end of the script if you prefer to accompany the children on the piano or guitar.  I would consider the songs more suited to younger children by nature of their deliberate simplicity and repetitive style, and several of the songs last just half a minute if you use the backing tracks provided. (see timings below for specifics)

Bearing in mind that every performance of a script will be different dependant upon the speed of the reading and acting, I have tried to offer a rough suggestion of the timing to expect for each element of the nativity play to give a guide as you adapt the script for your purposes:

• Allow 10 minutes for the words of the script.
• The 9 songs are all short and simple.  Allow a MINIMUM of 8 minutes 35 seconds for the backing tracks of the songs as recorded and included with the script.
• If you include actors, allow for pauses in the script.
• Allow extra time for the pauses as the alphabet letters are put up. (As a guide, we had 1 person passing and another pegging them up on the washing line, and it tended to add 20 seconds per letter, making an allowance of up to 8 minutes to display the 26 letters!  You can, of course, fine tune this as you choose.
• If you include the “The Alphabet Nativity Roll Call Poem” allow 2 minutes. (All of the cast get an opportunity to bow and respond at the relevant point in the poem)
• If you choose to use the poem “The Christmas Story Alphabet” to round off the play allow 1 and a half minutes.  (This is a great, fun ending to the play, getting all of the audience on their feet to join in with the actions at speed!)

The script requires minimal rehearsal, as the script is entirely narrated, so there is no memorising of the script necessary, with the exception of the ‘Instructor’ (if you choose to include this part) who speaks directly to the audience on 4 separate occasions, saying 2 short rhyming lines each time.  The effectiveness of this script is more about timing, so this is the element of the script that would need to be rehearsed.  Therefore, these are the considerations to pay attention to when planning what rehearsals you will require:

1. The narrator will need to be a confident reader, but also someone who is capable of paying attention to the timing of the actions and the display of the illustrated alphabet letters whilst they read, to ensure that the play runs smoothly.
2. The person(s) displaying the letters need to pay attention throughout the narration, and know when to display the keyword.  This is trickier than it might first seem, so it is easier to have one person following the script and then holding the letter up for a second person to place at the right moment. (The script has grey highlights to make it instantly noticeable when the letters are displayed to avoid damaging the flow of the script)
3. The songs are very simple (if you choose to include them) and should be very easy to remember, but can be interchanged with your own familiar favourites if preferred, to minimise the need for rehearsal.  If you choose to use my songs, pay attention to the opportunities offered and sometimes specifically mentioned within the script for solo lines, or for acting during the songs.  Again, this would require extra rehearsal.
4. You may choose to have children miming the story as it is narrated: this would, of course, take some rehearsal although the acting would be simple, walk on parts.
5. The ‘Action Superstar’ needs to be familiar with hearing the script and specifically the keywords and the actions for them, as they will be demonstrating the actions to the audience as the script is read.  However, the actions are deliberately simple and flow together, and also the illustrations on the letters that are displayed act as a reminder of the keyword itself.
6. If you have a whole class of children doing the actions to the keywords, they will need a short rehearsal to familiarise themselves with the actions.  Alternatively, the ‘Action Superstar’ could be relied on to simply copy, avoiding the needed for a full rehearsal.

In short, if the Narrator (s), Instructor, Action Superstar and letter displayers are individually familiar with their script, and manage the timing well they can minimise the need for a full rehearsal, regardless of how many extra elements you add into the script AS LONG AS EVERYONE WHO IS PARTICIPATING LISTENS CAREFULLY THROUGHOUT!

This script can be performed without any actors and therefore requires no special costumes;  simply a narrator, instructor, action superstar and person to display the letters.  Each of these can be dressed in everyday clothes, unless you choose to give them a specific outfit.

However, if you choose to include actors, you will simply require the traditional nativity costumes for any of the characters that you include as walk on parts, these being :

Angel Gabriel, Caesar, Soldier, Mary, Joseph, Donkey, Innkeepers, Shepherds, Angels, Kings, Star, King Herod

Just £9.95, for an instantly downloadable pdf document of the script, including sheet music, downloadable mp3 backing tracks of the music, and a set of the 26 illustrated alphabetical keywords ready to print off.

Alternatively, I highly recommend upgrading your purchase for just £2 extra, to receive all of the above in addition to A WORD DOCUMENT of the script to customise and personalise for your own nativity play.  It really is invaluable when it comes to personalising and customising your script, and distributing lines etc

The Alphabet Nativity Play tells the nativity story in rhyme and rhythm as an alphabet poem, stressing keywords in alphabetical order (eg,  An Angel appearing to Mary, the birth in Bethlehem as the Beginning of the story when a Census caused Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem on a Donkey, etc.)

The perfect central positioning of the keywords in the alphabet stresses the message that ‘Jesus, King, Lord, and Messiah’ are at the very heart of the Nativity Story, and that Jesus’s birth gave us a ‘New beginning’.  Interwoven into the play is the message that Jesus’s birth was part of God’s plan, including Jesus’s crucifixion.  Finally, the play is rounded off with a poem which asks the questions “Why did God send Jesus to earth?” and “have you left baby Jesus simply sleeping in the hay?”