This is an outline for anyone in the universe who wants to reproduce this Christmas pageant. I used two resources
The Really Big Book of Bible Coloring Pages and the CD from last summer's VBS: Growing with the Saints
I also found this great link with 25 stories from the Jesse Tree and adapted them to fit with the pages in the coloring book and to give a more Marian focus.
Here are the stories and songs that I choose:
Ornament 1: God Creates the World:
(Song: God is great: Track 1)
Ornament 2: Adam and Eve disobey God.
Ornament 3: Noah thanks God.
Ornament 4: Abram travels to a new home.
Ornament 5: Isaac is born.
Ornament 6. Abraham obeys God.
Ornament 7. Jacob has a dream.
Ornament 7, Jacob and Angels Onstage
Song Your Grace is Enough: Track 2 on original
Ornament 8. Joseph’s brothers sell him.
Ornament 9. God gives the Ten Commandments.
Ornament 10. Rahab helps two spies
Ornament 11. Ruth cares for Naomi
Ornament 12. David is chosen as king.
Ornament 13. David fights Goliath.
Song: Supersize me. Track 5
Ornament 14. Isaiah writes God’s messages.
Ornament 15: Prophets tell of the promised Messiah.
Ornament 16: God protects Daniel in a den of lions.
Ornament 17: God protects Daniel’s friends in a furnace.
Ornament 18: Queen Esther saves her people.
Ornament 19: Jonah preaches in Nineveh.
Ornament 20:An angel visits Mary.
Ornament 21: Jesus is born.
Song: Queen of Peace. Track 10
Ornament 22: Shepherds come to greet Jesus.
Ornament 23: Wise men travel to find Jesus.
Ornament 24: Conclusion (picture from Live by the fruit of the Spirit)
Song: Growing with the Saints. Track 9 on original
Here is my introduction:
One of the great enduring traditions of the Catholic faith is the retelling every year of the Christmas story. One of the ways of telling this story is through the Jesse Tree. The Jesse Tree tells the story of our faith from the creation of the world through the birth of Jesus. The first ornament on the tree is always this verse from Isaiah (Isaiah 1:1), telling us about the birth of the Messiah from the family of Jesse. Here is our tree.
Here is my conclusion:
This is the beginning of the story of our faith. People believing in God. God keeping his promises. Saints overcoming great adversity. All part of God’s plan. God’s journey continues with us today. It is God’s plan for all of us to keep growing with the Saints- growing in our faith more and more everyday.
We took the coloring pictures for each of the ornaments, brought them into Word, put them into a 6.8 inch circle, copied them onto transparencies, then used an overhead projector to center each picture onto a 22 inch circle on poster board and traced out the lines. To put them into a circle in Word, you click on the picture, choose format-picture shape-then adjust until the height and width are 6.8 inches. We then gave them to each of 24 Faith Formation classes to color in using whatever method they desired. Some used crayon, some used markers, some painted, some did collages with tissue and craft foam shapes, one even sprinkled craft sand over paint to give realistic brick walls. There was a lot of glitter in all colors too. We then added an ornament holder shape, glittered around the edges of the circles and cut them all out. When you give these to the classes- make sure that the teacher knows that the craft workers need at least a day to work on them before the show after the class is finished.
The next step is to choose scenes for children to act out- we choose the scenes with songs. Kids love to be animals, royalty, angels, soldiers, and we had to have all the nativity players- so we choose scenes that used those elements.
Choosing the Creation story allowed us to use any animals that we wanted. We choose jungle animals: Lions, tigers, elephants, monkeys, giraffes, and zebras (two of each in case we wanted to do Noah too). Try to get the kids used to being the animals- take some practice time getting them to pretend being each of their animals. Making the vests was easy: we took 60 inch lengths of fabric, cut them 18 inches wide and cut a slit at the top for the head to go through- we were lucky enough to get cotton animal prints. I find that while fur may look great- it is better to go with light weight fabrics so the kids don't get too hot.
Choosing Jacob's ladder allowed us to get double-duty for our angels. We used a wing pattern traced onto cardboard, trimmed in silver- we tried pre-made but poster board angel wings are beautiful, sturdy, inexpensive, and no big deal if they get lost- and angel wings get lost because they are difficult to store. We used these halos and these robes. All our costumes were made to be worn over clothes- it is easier to change. It was hard to find someone who wanted to be Jacob because he is just sleeping. Found that with angels, the effect is awesome if you just have them go up and down a few steps in circles- looks stupid in practice but in costume it works.
For David and Goliath, we just had 6 soldiers. Making soldiers was easy. We cut 6 lengths of black cloth with a hole for the neck- so that the cloth came down to about the knees or shorter on the boys- for these you want the width to be narrow enough not to have sleeves. Have the boys wear tee shirts, shorts, and sandals. I made belts and arm guards from large pieces of craft foam. The belts were 2 inches wide and the length of the large piece- this went across the front of the child. Holes were punched into the ends and ribbon tied it in the back. The arm guards were also craft foam with three holes punched along each side. Ribbon was threaded as if they were shoe laces and tied at the bottom. Soldiers were coached to show off like they just won a battle.
For our nativity characters, we just went out and bought one of each color from Oriental Trading Company. This makes things easy because you just tell each child the color of their robe. For the three kings we added crowns. We also bought matching hats for everyone else- hats did not always match the color of the robe. If you have people that have time and talent to sew- have them make over-robes, vests, and shawls for the characters. In my 20 years of experience, I have found that if you don't have the costumes in hand, you worry that they won't be made in time- and sometimes you are right. The last thing that you need is to find that you don't have costumes at 5PM the night before the show- which is when I heard that I didn't have the costumes one year- think it was 1994 or 1995. My advice is just to buy the robes and the hats- then let the costumers have fun with the non-essentials- if they make them you have a better pageant- and if not it doesn't matter. It is better for the people making them too- because then they know that if they don't have time, then they don't have to be up at 3AM the night before trying to finish (I've been there and done that).
This year, we just had a very simple nativity procession in during Queen of Peace. I told the children that the song lasted two minutes and to make the procession last the length of the song- and by some miracle they got the timing perfect. They came down slowly and stately and it looked magnificent.
For staging, we just put a chair in front of the altar and covered it with a purple tablecloth for a throne. We also put chairs on the top step on the side of the altar, cushions on the floor on the last step under the chairs (if it wasn't a stone floor you could skip the cushions).
Every child had a ticket with an ornament number on it. This is essential when assigning roles because as soon as you assign a role, someone wants to change it. Put their names on the tickets. When someone drops out- you cross off one name and put another on it. No one wanted to be an ornament bearer until I got the idea of having the ornaments be princes and princesses with crowns they made themselves. You can tie two lessons in with this one: that we are all priests, prophets, and kings by virtue of our baptism where we are made sons and daughter of Christ the King and that when they are holding the Bible story ornament, they are the Word of God and that the Word is being enthroned.
Have teens be readers. This is the part that needs practice. Before each reading have the ornament called out- this is the cue for each of the princes and princesses to go up and get the ornament- then go to the throne. After the reading,the child goes up to the Jesse Tree sitting area and holds the ornament. We tried standing but this is too much for some children- even sitting is difficult. But even with the most fidgety- they were fine for the one minute when they are enthroned- try to keep the reading to one minute- you will need to edit the longest readings.
For the stories, the characters go up to the stage when the ornament is called. Think it would be great to have someone work with the characters for motions- but then I think that everyone gets nervous that they will forget their part. We keep the song length to 2 minutes- for the first two songs we ended the playback just as the song was going into an interlude.
Two parts were added as the show was in progress and I recommend. When the procession was happening, the princes and princesses could not keep their seats- so I told them to stand and raise their ornaments. This gave them a chance to see the procession and was very effective. The other part that was added was having the children process through the church during Growing with the Saints. This puts them into the middle of the center aisle at the end of the show- the concluding remarks are delivered- and then the children gather around the nativity for a picture opportunity.
What did I learn from this show? Schedule 4 rehearsals and the show before sign-ups. Give each parent the schedule when they sign up. Don't tell them whether or not a rehearsal is mandatory- so they'll think they all are. If a rehearsal is canceled- don't try to make it up- you can handle the show in two sessions but you need to schedule four to ensure two. This show is simple enough so that if a child joins at the very last second, and the rest of the children know what to do, they will be able to figure it out. Get e-mails and phone numbers- use phone numbers when the e-mails fail to get the correct e-mail address. Send e-mail when you need to cancel and to remind about rehearsals.
This show was a lot of work but simple for the children. It was different enough so that it was a unique and moving pageant. The church was totally quiet the whole performance- so we kept their interest. When things started to get a little noisy, we had our procession- so the length is just about perfect. You can do just about anything you want with this show. Think it would be fun to have different classes dress up for their ornament and just go up on stage for that minute- but you would need a large sitting area for the cast. Try it and have fun with it!
No comments:
Post a Comment