Old Hymns, Old Hims, and Old Hers

Transcription

1 Lillenas Drama Presents Old Hymns, Old Hims, and Old Hers from Seniors Centerstage By Gail Blanton Theme: Old hymns; stereotype of seniors proven wrong Characters: CURTIS: pastor GLENN: minister of music and seniors HENRIETTA BEN VERA FRANK ANNIE AND BART MINNIE BEULAH RACHEL AND RAY ESTHER WALTER PIANIST Setting: See Production Notes. LESTER IRVA LENA ERNEST GRETA RUTH MILDRED FARLEY BETSY AND WARREN SALLY Props: Chairs and risers for choir Rehearsal schedule sheets (printed with lyrics if needed) Old hymn books Piano Pianist s book of hymns in correct order Conductor s stand Small table with extra rehearsal schedule sheets

2 Production Notes This sketch has been written with a large number and variety of hymns. It is doubtful that you will use all of them. The script is flexible: groups wanting to sing most of the hymns can sing only one verse of each. Others will want to eliminate some and sing additional verses. Simply remove the set of cue lines for the songs you eliminate and skip to the cue lines for the next song you want to use. Please add variety with solos, duets, quartets, ensembles, and so on. The script indicates everybody singing only because it cannot anticipate the varied musical capabilities of different groups. As in any musical production, the choir can alternate sitting and standing. It would also be fun, on some songs, to invite the audience to sing along or clap or stand and sing. Another good reason to sing only one verse is that the seniors can probably do it from memory. Using hymn books is not plausible since they are supposed to be doing these hymns spontaneously. However, they all have a sheet of paper representing a rehearsal schedule. This could be 8 1 2" x 14", two or three pages, and printed on both sides if they need printed lyrics. You may add or subtract characters to fit the size of your group. Reassign lines accordingly. CURTIS is the pastor, and GLENN is the new minister of music, who also has charge of ministry to senior adults. (Or if this is not used in a church setting, CURTIS is the director and GLENN the activities leader of a retirement center or municipal senior action center.) GLENN s former position was working with music and youth. He has no experience working with seniors. He is familiar with most of these seniors names but does not yet know much about them. If possible, the PIANIST should also be an older adult, since the script assumes he or she knows the old songs. If this is not possible, add a line such as How do you know all these old songs, [Name]? I used to go to my grandmother s every week, and she d have me play them while she sang. He or she has all the songs in order on sheets because the piano is crucial to starting the hymns on cue, whether from a spoken line or joining in after an a cappella solo of the first line of a song. This sketch must move quickly with no lags or dead time, otherwise it will become too long and boring. Place the choir on risers so that all can be seen. If using the choir loft in a sanctuary and the chairs cannot be angled to one side, take care that GLENN is to one side and cheats in his position by facing halfway toward the audience. Since the script is rather static as far as movement, any stage business you can create will make it more interesting: comparing schedules, passing out mints or antacid pills, fanning, someone going to sleep, swapping seats, and so on. GLENN knows some of the songs and recalls others after they begin singing, but the main effect should be that the seniors virtually take over and sing whatever comes to their minds. He conducts the ones he knows confidently and well. Other times he can t believe they have started another song already, and he is frantically trying to find it in his hymnal and catch up. Some songs he cannot

3 find and is trying to sing along, sometimes going to the piano and looking over the PIANIST s shoulder. Sometimes he tries to prevent them from starting in on another one, but they just sing right on, and he has no choice but to join, or he can give up on a couple songs and just listen. Setting is the rehearsal room for the senior adult musical program. The seniors are in clusters upstage, miming conversation. GLENN and CURTIS are downstage, and we catch them in the middle of a conversation. GLENN: What? Are you saying you don t think I can do it? CURTIS: Not at all. I just didn t want you to be in a bind. If you don t think you can be ready, we can postpone the program until sometime this summer. It doesn t have to be on the same date every year. Give you time to get to know the people better. GLENN: No, thanks. I think we ll be just fine. CURTIS: There isn t much time left. GLENN: I realize that. CURTIS: OK. I just wanted you to know you don t have to try to prove anything just because you re new. GLENN: Well, thanks. But really, I think we re fine on the time. It can t take as long as trying to get a program together with youth never a rehearsal with everybody there. They re all going in so many different directions it s like laying a hosepipe down and turning on the water. I m looking forward to working with the seniors. They re retired, not nearly as busy, nowhere much to go. I don t think getting the schedule set up with them will be any problem. CURTIS (knowing smile): I see. OK. Well, remember I offered. (Exits) GLENN: Yeah, thanks. (To seniors) OK, everybody, let s gather around and get started. (Continues speaking as they move to their places. PIANIST goes to piano; all seniors go to seats except MILDRED, FARLEY, SALLY, ESTHER, and WALTER, who are still offstage.) I hope you ve all looked over the rehearsal schedule I gave you Sunday. What I d like to do is decide which songs we want to use and talk about what we can put between songs: testimonies, drama, transitions. It will be a long afternoon, but it will give us a good head start. (Joking now) If you work hard, I ll try to get you home before dark. (PIANIST plays first seven notes of Work, for the Night Is Coming ; or someone sings the first six words solo. All seniors immediately sing the song together, leaving GLENN to join in late.) GLENN: Now that was good thinking. I see you re good at this. But I thought we had more people than this here.

4 HENRIETTA: We did. About six of them left. GLENN: Left? HENRIETTA: They ll be back. This is their regular day for water aerobics. LESTER: Water songs, everybody! That s a transition to water songs. (Sings) There shall be showers of blessings. (All join in the rest of song.) GLENN: That s cute, Lester water songs. (BEN begins first line of On Jordan s Stormy Banks. ) BEULAH (interrupts): If we re going to keep singing these water songs, I ve got to take a potty break. SALLY: I ll go with you. (LESTER begins song again, and all join in.) IRVA (sings): Oh who will come and go with me, I am bound for the old courthouse. (BEN sings first line of Bring Ye All the Tithes into the Storehouse. All others join in. IRVA exits during song.) GLENN: Did she say storehouse or courthouse? VERA: Courthouse. GLENN: Does she have a case? VERA: Well, sort of. She s a volunteer guardian ad litem for a child. But if they don t call her case, she ll come back. LENA: She can t come back in the morning, though. Several of us can t. We already volunteered to make new tablecloths for the fellowship hall. We ve cut all the fabric, and we re meeting in the morning to sew. (Someone sings Sowing in the morning, sowing in the evening ; all join in on Bringing in the Sheaves. ) GLENN: Boy, you people are just running way ahead of me. But at least we re getting some practice in on potential music. Maybe we better look at our schedules together. Did you bring them with you? (General Comments: I did ; Here s mine ; I didn t get one ; I didn t bring mine ; and so on.) GLENN: Anyone that doesn t have one can get one off the stack on that table over there. (This is a good time for movement and humor. BEULAH and SALLY return and try to find out what everyone is looking at, what they missed, and so on.)

5 GLENN: Everybody ready? OK, let s see now. If the seamstresses can t be here in the morning, we d better find out how many can be here. FRANK: I can be here, but I have to leave at 10. ERNEST: Me too. GRETA: Me too. We three deliver for Meals on Wheels tomorrow. GLENN: Well, can t you cancel? We need this rehearsal. ERNEST: Glenn, be ashamed! You want some homebound person to starve? GLENN: Don t they have substitutes? FRANK: Nope. We have to get our own. Besides, we made a commitment. ERNEST: Yeah, and I wouldn t want to miss seeing Mr. Rankin especially. I feel sorry for him. He s an old codger. HENRIETTA: You re old too, Ernest. ERNEST: I know, but he s just sitting there in his own little prison bitter, depressed, and hopeless about the big end. I told him the only difference between his attitude and mine was that I know I m going on to a better place where we won t ever be hopeless, sad, or sick. LESTER: Let s do We ll Understand It Better By and By. (All sing When the Morning Comes. ) ERNEST: That s the problem though. He s not one of the saints that is going to be gathered home. I ve told him about Jesus several times, but he says he doesn t want to hear it any more. All I can do now is pray for him. GLENN: Maybe you could tell that story as a testimony in the program, Ernest, not using his name, and then we could sing I Have a Savior. (All sing.) (LENA starts the first line of There s a Great Day Coming, and all join in.) GLENN: There s also a great day coming when we have to have this program ready. MINNIE (raises hand): Uh, Glenn, I m sorry. I don t want to cause you any trouble, but I can t come in the morning either. I m sorry. GLENN: It s OK, Minnie. I don t think we have enough for a rehearsal anyway. MINNIE: Some of us have already promised to plant flowers for the new children s home. LENA: Minnie has a real way with flowers. I think it s because while she tends them she talks to them.

6 MINNIE: Well, people are a little strange sometimes. It s easy to be friends with flowers. LESTER: Hey, how s about we let Minnie arrange a vase of flowers during the program while we sing Lily of the Valley? RUTH: That won t do, Silly. The song isn t talking about real flowers. LESTER: That s OK. We can put a picture of Jesus beside the vase. OK, Glenn? GLENN: We ll see. Let s practice it just in case. (All sing Lily of the Valley. ) GLENN: That sounded good. Now I think we better look at the schedule again. I don t think there will be any other conflicts, but ANNIE: Oh yes, there are. Tuesday night Bart and I have to go to PTA meeting. RACHEL: Ray and I do too. GLENN: PTA? Aren t you finished with that? ANNIE: I wish, but some of us have to raise our grandchildren. GLENN: That doesn t seem fair. GRETA: You got that right. I say anybody that has to raise a second family is going to have a couple extra stars in their crown. (PIANIST starts, and all sing Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown? ) RACHEL: Well, I hope we have that to look forward to at least. I thought we d be carefree and on our way to Hawaii at our age. BEULAH: Boy, I d love to go to Hawaii. FRANK: That reminds me, Ethel and I will be gone on our cruise that whole week before the program. HENRIETTA: What s that old song we used to sing that sounded like it was Hawaiian? LENA: He Lives on High. HENRIETTA: Yeah. Let s do that one. (All sing.) RAY: Oh boy, I can see it now, Henrietta. You and the girls can do the hula to that one up in the baptistery [or a platform], and we ll hang some clouds around. HENRIETTA: I don t think so, Ray; but that reminds me our group has worked up a line dance to I ll Fly Away. All of you sing it, and we ll show you.

7 GLENN: I don t know about that now (But several ladies are already forming their line, and the PIANIST is playing. Use as many characters as you like.) (I LL FLY AWAY [movement]) Some Step right foot forward glad Bring left foot forward to complete step morn- Move right foot one step to right -ing Follow with left foot when this Move left foot to the left one step life Follow with right foot is Move left foot to the left one more step o er Follow with right foot I ll [3 beats] First is both hands on thighs; second and third clap hands together at chest height. fly Extend right arm fully toward the right at shoulder height and hold away; Extend left arm fully toward the left at shoulder height To a Right arm akimbo Home on Left arm akimbo God s celestial Point right toe forward one step and return it shore Point left toe forward one step and return it I ll fly away Same motion as before Oh, glory Both arms straight overhead; jiggle fingers I ll fly away Same motion as before in the morning Turn around in a tight circle [individual] When I die Both hands on thighs; bend knees twice in a row Halle- Right arm across chest touching left shoulder -lujah left arm crosses right one by and Right fingertips move to touch right shoulder with elbow at 90 degree angle by Left fingertips move to touch left shoulder likewise I ll fly away Same motion as before. WARREN: That just reminds me of another thing, Glenn. The clown team is flying away to the national convention week after next. GLENN: Oh no! How many of you are clowns? WARREN: Well, most of us, but only five of us actually do it as a ministry you know, to hospitals, nursing homes, and such. GLENN: Do you memorize parts or just strike up a conversation? ANNIE: No, no; we re silent clowns. We bring balloons or something to give out and mime to music. Sing Let Him In, and we ll show you. GLENN: Sing what? (All sing except for WARREN, ANNIE, and three others, who do the simplest possible signs for the words, not actual sign language. The signs can even be humorous.)

8 GLENN: Well, thank you for sharing that. Betsy, don t you clown with Warren? BETSY: Not in public. WARREN: Nah, she s into the highbrow stuff. She volunteers at the performing arts center downtown. GLENN: Really? Can you get me in to see Leontyne Price? BETSY: No, but the volunteers got to meet Itzhak Perlman. RUTH: All of us went to Les Mis. I m telling you, I was so worked-up at the end I thought that we should have an invitation or commitment time. BEN: What would you have sung, Ruth? RUTH: Well, let s see. I guess it would be Oh Why Not Tonight? BEN: Why? RUTH: Well, the show ends talking about a new day when tomorrow comes, and that song has that verse about tomorrow may not come. (Piano begins) GRETA: That s right, it does. (All sing first and second verses.) RAY: That s a good one, but as far as invitation hymns I always liked Pass Me Not. (All sing.) GLENN: OK, that was good, but we ve gotten way off track. I want to get the schedule finalized. (Enter MILDRED, FARLEY, SALLY, ESTHER, WALTER. General greetings.) FRANK: How was water aerobics? WALTER: It was quite invigorating. It does for the body what my math class does for the mind. MILDRED: We got caught in an awful storm over near the Y. The lightning scared me to death. LENA (sings): I saw the lightning flashing; I heard the thunder roll... (All join in Never Alone. ) GLENN: Welcome back, everybody. VERA: Here s Irva back too. GLENN: Come in, Irva. As I was saying, we need to get the schedule finalized. So far there s not a single rehearsal when everybody will be here. Take a look and see if you see any other conflicts.

9 SALLY: Did you tell him about Thursday mornings, Ray? RAY: No, I forgot. GLENN: Oh please, not something else. RAY: Several of us can t come any Thursday morning, Glenn. That s when we get together to update our web page. GLENN: You have a web page? RAY: Yeah, we developed one when we found out the seniors over at [neighboring church or town] had one. We try to make ours better. ESTHER: You better watch what you put on there. I heard that web thing goes all over the world. Anybody could be watching. IRVA (sings): Watching you; watching you; there s an all-seeing eye watching you. (All join in singing There s an All-Seeing Eye, beginning over with the verse.) GLENN: How do you people ever remember all these old songs? BEULAH: Oh, it s what happened yesterday that we have trouble remembering. But the songs we grew up with, they re etched in our memories. (LESTER starts singing, and everyone joins in Precious Memories. ) GLENN: I guess there s a lot to be said for the old days. BART: The old ways too. (Sings first line of In the Old Time Way, and everyone joins in.) MINNIE: I wonder if God was more pleased with us back then? GLENN: I don t know, but it does seem we don t have much time for Him now. Our lives are so crowded. ESTHER: Didn t we used to sing a song about the uncrowded day? LESTER: Unclouded day. (Piano starts.) GLENN: No, let s (All sing The Unclouded Day. ) Oh, they tell me of a land where no conflicts arise. Is that all we have to deal with now? SALLY: No. Six of us are going on a bus tour to Washington next week. GLENN: Arrrgghh! I thought you people were retired! WALTER: From work, not from life.

10 IRVA: Walter, are you going to learn something that will help you function better down at Republican headquarters? WALTER: Probably. MILDRED: Not me; I m going to find me a sugar daddy. FARLEY: I ll be your sugar daddy, Mildred. MILDRED: Forget it, Farley. You re not even a daddy. FARLEY: I ll give you some sugar, though. MILDRED: You do, and I ll give you some permanent conflicts in your schedule. GLENN: How are we supposed to have a program? RACHEL: Well, there are other seniors, or did you want just the senior choir members? GLENN: Whoever. SALLY (sings): Whosoever will may come. (All sing Whosoever Will from the top.) GLENN: Yeah, and I d add, may come and may bring all their friends with them. (IRVA sings chorus of Bring Them In ; then all sing together the verse and chorus.) ESTHER: Speaking of bringing them to Jesus, we haven t done any cross songs. We ought to have some cross songs. GLENN: You re right. Let s try I Am Coming to the Cross. (All sing.) (IRVA sings first line of The Banner of the Cross ; all join in.) (LESTER begins Glory to His Name, and all join in.) BEULAH: Well, talking about names, I was hoping we could get my favorite in someplace. WALTER: Oh, Beulah, and what song could that be? Beulah Land, I presume? BEULAH: Yes, sir; that s it. (Piano starts, and all sing Beulah Land. ) GLENN: I can certainly say this for all of you if you know as many scriptures as you do hymns, I d say you re all junior theologians. I m sure God is very pleased that you ve filled your minds and hearts with such good things. Well, considering the few good rehearsals we ll be having, we d better work a little while longer today. BART: I don t think so, Glenn. GLENN: Why is that, Bart?

11 (BART sings first phrase of Day Is Dying in the West. All join him in remainder of Day Is Dying in the West. ) GLENN: OK, I can take a hint. Good evening, everyone. (Everyone starts to leave, and GLENN finally gets to start a song himself, surprising them. He begins God Be with You Till We Meet Again. Others join in and sing as they exit.) The purchase of this sketch entitles the purchaser to make photocopies of this material for use in their church or nonprofit organization. The sharing of this material with other churches or organizations not owned or controlled by the original purchaser is strictly prohibited. The contents of this sketch may not be reproduced in any other form without written permission from the publisher. Please include the copyright statement found below on each copy made. All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB), 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Questions? Please write, call, or Lillenas Publishing Company Phone: drama@lillenas.com Drama Resources Fax: Web Site: P.O. Box Kansas City, MO The sketch collection Seniors Centerstage (MP-802) is available for purchase from Lillenas Drama or from your local Christian bookstore. For a full description of the rest of this collection, or to purchase other individual sketches, refer to