Sharing the Good News

Characters
Tiffany
Stacy
Kendra
Maya

ACT ONE:
The Narrator walks in on four friends laughing and talking playing with two basketballs on an imaginary basket ball court.

Narrator: Somewhere in a city near you, someone is having this conversation. Sound familiar?

Tiffany: Have you heard?
Stacy: Heard what?
Kendra: It’s here!
Maya: What’s here!
Tiffany: The news.
Maya: You mean the evening news?
Kendra: She means the good news.
Stacy: Aw naw. No news is good news!
Maya: You got that right! And most news is bad news.
Tiffany: Trust me. This news is good news. The best kind of news.
Stacy: And why should we believe you?
Tiffany: You shouldn’t believe me. Believe Him. You won’t understand it until it happens to you.

All stop and stare at Tiffany. Narrator snaps. The characters freeze.

Narrator: Good news. With all that is going on in the world, where is the good news? See here you have four friends. Tiffany, Stacy, Maya and Kendra. Were raised on the same block together. Went to the same schools. Got in fights together. Got in and out of trouble together.

Narrator: They are actually a lot alike. Even though they are young, they’ve struggled.

(Narrator touches each of the characters as she speaks When she touches the character, they come to life. Narrator touches Tiffany. She begins painting on an imaginary easel in front of her..)

Narrator: The only mother Tiffany has ever known is her grandmother. Her real mother left her at the age of four. She cried every night for her mother to return, but she never came back. (Tiffany’s head drops) Her refuge? She draws, and she writes.

(Narrator snaps. Tiffany freezes. Maya comes to life. She begins to do her make up in an imaginary mirror and preen her hair.)

Narrator: Maya, has always been the best at everything. She had to be. You see, where she comes from, if you are not the best, you are not anything. She believes in one thing and one thing only. Winning. Winning is all that matters, right?

(Narrator snaps, Maya freezes, and Stacy comes to life. He begins shadow boxing, )

Narrator: Stacy. What can we say about Stacy? Super talented. A real leader. Plays three sports. He often gets himself in trouble because he likes to challenge other people. Stacy is the man of his house after his father left. He feels like he’s been taking care of business all this time, why should he have to answer to anyone?

(Narrator snaps and Stacy freezes. Kendra comes to life. Kendra drops to her knees and begins praying silently.)

Narrator: And then there is Kendra. The quiet one. You gotta watch out for the quiet ones. You see, out of all these friends Kendra really has lost the most. She’s spent most of her time in and out of hospitals being treated for sickle cell anemia. In fact, the doctors are amazed that she is still here. (Kendra gets up) They wonder why.

(Narrator snaps, all freeze.)

Narrator: On the outside, you wouldn’t know all the storms brewing on the inside.
But there’s something different here now. You see last year, right before sophomore year, Tiffany and Kendra heard about some good news. It changed their lives. It was so powerful that they had to share it.


This should be interesting.

(Narrator “snaps” and characters come to life again.)

ACT TWO:

Tiffany: What if someone had news for you? The best news you ever heard? What if someone told you today that your life would be changed forever, and nothing would ever be the same?

Kendra: What if someone gave you the greatest gift you would ever receive? What if they told you that the gift that you would be given would so great that you would want to share it with everyone you know?

Tiffany: This is the free gift that God offers us. He sent his Son to die for our sins, so that we can live with God forever after we die.

Maya: And who asked Him to do that?

Kendra: Nobody. He did it out of love.

Stacy: Last time I checked, God wasn’t giving out anything free. Right Maya?

Maya: That’s real. Look I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I’m not convinced. My mama and them go to church every Sunday. I hate to tell you, but it doesn’t seem to be doing them much good.

Stacy: Thank you!

Tiffany: The church is the hospital, Maya.

Maya: Then the patients are in trouble. Besides, I prayed before. God never answered my prayers.

Kendra: If only you knew.

Maya: Come on Tif, I’ll play you.

(Tiffany and Maya walk stage left with one of the basketballs. Kendra and Stacy walk to stage right with the other. They each start tossing the ball back and forth. The Narrator walks in and snaps. Tiffany and Maya freeze. Stacy and Kendra stay alive.)

Stacy: Let’s be real. I know y’all went down to Church by the Backside Street By the Road and got your God on. That’s cool. But tell me one thing God has done for you. If you show me, I’ll believe you.

Kendra: I’ll do better than that. I’ll show you what God did for you.

Stacy: What is that?

Narrator snaps. Everyone freezes.

Narrator: Stacy has a lot of plans. But what he doesn’t know, is that God has bigger plans. You see through all that struggle, God gave Kendra a gift. It is the gift of discernment. And when you have the gift of discernment you see people through God’s eyes. And right about now, it is like he’s being seen for the first time.

(The Narrator snaps again. Stacy and Kendra comes to life again.)

Kendra: I know what is keeping you from believing. (Kendra walks around Stacy. Looks at him.)

Stacy: Girl, have you had your medication today?

Kendra: Stacy, you have a father.

Stacy: Why are you bringing my father into this? You don’t know anything about it.

Kendra: You wonder why if God loved you he let your father leave.

Stacy: Do you know who works to pay bills in my house? I do! Not God. So don’t tell me anything about how God is my provider.

Kendra: God was with you, Stacy. He was watching over you. He didn’t make those bad things happen to you. He blessed you. He made you strong so that you could help your mother. He didn’t bring you down, he brought you through.

Stacy: I guess I never thought about it like that. All this time, I thought that he didn’t hear my prayers. But you know what. You’re right. When I look at other people who went through what I have, they’re caught up. Some of them are gone.

Kendra: If God brought you through that situation, if he protected your life, don’t you think he will keep his promise and save it?

(Narrator snaps. Kendra and Stacy freeze. Maya and Tiffany come to life.)

Now God has given Tiffany a different gift. It is the gift of compassion. And believe me, when times get hard and cold, compassion is like a warm blanket. You’ll be needing it!

Tiffany: Maya.

Maya folds her arms and turns her head away.

Maya: Look, Tiffany. All that sounds good. But I’m not ready to give my life to God. I’m not perfect.

Tiffany: Wow! Really? You’re my best friend. I know you may think I believe that you’re perfect, but I know that you’re not.

Maya: I want to believe, Tif. I try really hard, but God isn’t just gonna bless you because you’re standing in line saying “I wanna be blessed.” All the stuff I do…well you know all the stuff I do wrong.

Tiffany: You know the thing I like about God is that he meets you where you are.

Maya: I don’t believe it.

Tiffany: Think about it. The bible says “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” You know why? Because if we were perfect, we wouldn’t need God’s mercy. God just wants you to say yes to Him. When you accept God, yes, you do have to change. But he forgives us.

Maya: Even me?

Tiffany: Even you.


Narrator snaps. All of the characters come to life. They return to the center of the floor.

Stacy: So what now?

Kendra: Well, now you just have to tell God that you believe that he loves you.

Maya: How do I do that?

Tiffany: By acknowledging the good news. Jesus died in your place. He accepted your sins.

Stacy: Maybe I’ll do it another day.

Kendra: Why not today? I’ll do it with you.

Stacy: Here?

(They are look at each other, and kneel. They pray. They freeze. The Narrator comes back with a basketball in hand.)

Narrator: Good News, Good News, indeed. Have you heard the good news? See the good news is like this basketball. Once you get it, you gotta pass it on.

Narrator snaps, and puts the ball in Stacy’s hand.

Narrator: The ball is in your court, now.