8 Characters + as many as you want to populate stage
Narrator
Mother Teresa
Sickly – person #1
(speaking parts)
TB/Aids sickly – person
#2 (speaking part)
Freezing to death sickly
– person #3 (speaking part)
Starving to death sickly
– person #4 (speaking part becomes helper #2)
Socialite #1: well groomed
and cultured (becomes helper #1)
Socialite #2: well groomed
and cultured.
2 Helpers: 1st
helper (was indigent person #4)
2nd helper (was socialite #1)
Several half dead, mortally
sick indigent people: no speaking parts just
lay around on the floor. Some may moan.
Notes:
The skit works best if the Sickly Person #1 is put in a prominent position for
most of the audience to see. It is your choice at the end to have sickly person
#1 float away, be creative. TB/AIDS Person # 2 part works best when this person
is positioned very close to members of the audience. Freezing person # 3 works
best scantly dressed. All should
have their faces/hands smudged up to look dirty. This skit is great because most
of the characters only one or two lines to remember, and you can add to the
atmosphere by using as many youth as possible to be half dead indigent people
lying around on the floor. When performed appropriately this is a very
powerful skit.
Narrator:
Imagine these are the streets of
(Socialites begin walking
through the streets.)
1st
Socialite: “
2nd
Socialite: “There are such a
vast number of people. It’s so overwhelming. They are in such great need, and
such a nuisance; spits towards some helpless person who is reaching out
for help. These people always want something and are always in the way.
There is just nothing we can do about it.”
{Throughout
the skit, the socialites will keep an eye on Mother Teresa, and while not
distracting from the rest of the skit these two will occasionally mime comments
back and forth to each other until sickly person #1 finally lets Mother Teresa
help him/her.}
Mother Teresa:
(Enters the room after socialites
walk away to the side of the stage. She is unaware of them.) Raising her
hands and pointing to her feet. “Jesus, these are your hands, these are
your feet, let me be your vessel today. Thank you that I can love one person at
a time. Give me courage Lord to help these poorest of poor.”
Stretches out her arms as if introducing the vast amount of people.
(Mother Teresa approaches 1st
person moaning in pain.)
1st sickly
person: moaning
in pain “I don’t need your help, get away from me.”
(Mother Teresa moves away
in a prayerful manner and goes to the 2nd TB/Aids person #2.)
2nd sickly
person: (coughs
a lot, looks very weak) “Woman,
you don’t want to get near me I have tuberculosis and AIDS.”
(Mother Teresa helps him
up, nearly carries him to a make shift hospital bed. Then resituates and
comforts him and kisses him on the head.)
2nd Sickly
Person: Clutching
Mother Teresa by the arm, “Sister,
you have shown me such courage and love that I have never known before
and surely do not deserve, thank you.”
Mother Teresa:
“You are a child of God. He loves and so do I.” Exit
the room.
Narrator: The
Next Day.
Mother Teresa: (walks
in carrying a blanket or coat.) “Jesus, these are your hands, these
are your feet, raising her hands and pointing to her feet, let me
be your vessel today. Thank you Jesus, for your gift of faith, which
helps me help these – the poorest of poor, one person at a time.
(Mother Teresa approaches 1st
sickly person again, as she did yesterday.)
1st Sickly
Person: meaner voice “I don’t
need your help – get away from me.”
(Mother Teresa quietly
moves away and moves on to 3rd Sickly Person.)
3rd Sickly
Person: Scantly dressed, Curled
up in a ball, shivering. acting very cold, “I’m so cold. Oh, I’m so
cold, so cold.
(Mother Teresa approaches
this person. She wraps the covering around him.)
3rd Sickly
Person: Reaches up toward her to
grab hold of her hand. “Thank you Sister, Thank you for covering my
nakedness. I am not a Catholic or even a Christian, yet you did this for me. You
have shown me such kindness that I have never seen before.
(Mother Teresa nods and
pats his hand. She exits and the 3rd person looks comforted and
satisfied.)
Narrator: The
Next Day.
Mother Teresa:
(Walks in carrying a slice of bread and some water.) “Jesus, these
are your hands, these are you feet, raising hands and pointing to feet.
Let me be your vessel today. Thank you for the peace of knowing that
today I will help at least one person.
(Mother Teresa goes back
again to the 1st sickly person, this person is growing weaker and
more pain.)
1st Sickly
Person: weaker “I don’t need
you help get away from me.”
(Mother Teresa moves
prayerfully away and goes to 4th Sickly person.)
4th Sickly
Person:
Gnawing on their hand and scratching at the ground, as if to be eating
bugs. “Oh, Oh, I am so hungry, I am so thirsty.
(Mother Teresa approaches
this person with bread and water.)
4th Sickly
Person: Grabs and Clutches
the food and water as Mother Teresa is handing it to him/her.
“Thank you, Oh, Thank you, I am starving.”
Mother Teresa:
“Come with me and I will take you to a shelter where you can get something
to eat and drink everyday.”
(Led away by Mother Teresa,
out of site of the audience.)
After Mother Teresa begins
her next day the 4th sickly person, gets into view so he/she can be
seen watching Mother Teresa from a distance.)
Narrator:
The Next Day.
Mother Teresa:
(Carrying a wash cloth with her,) “Jesus, these are your hands, these are
your feet, let me be your vessel today. Thank you for giving me persistence,
patience, and joy in helping even the most difficult people no matter where
they are in their spiritual journey.”
(Mother Teresa approaches
the 1st Sickly Person as she has previously for several days. This
person is quieter from days before. Mother Teresa begins to clean the persons
face and wounds. She prays him, asking Jesus to bless the person.)
1st Sickly
Person: “Thank you Sister, you
have shown such diligence and patience with me unlike I have ever seen
before; I am ready to be with our Lord.” Sickly
person expires, floats away down the front of the audience…(if you choose they
may stay were they are.)
(Mother Teresa continues to
kneel and pray for the person as if they are still there, until sick person #1
has left the room. She then gets up looks around at the rest of the people lying
all around her.)
Mother Teresa:
‘Jesus you said that you would send me helpers. Have all my
helpers been aborted?
1st Socialite
(helper 1) and 4th sickly person (helper 2) now become Mother
Teresa’s helpers. At this time, the two helpers approach Mother Teresa from
separate locations yet meet her at the same time.
Helper #1:
“Sister, I see such joy and hope in you while you are helping these
people, may I help you? I would like to stay and work with you so that I may
come to know your joy.”
Helper #2:
“Sister, your courage and love for others are unlike any I have ever
seen. I want to stay and help you too.”
Both helpers
- #1 Sister we have seen such an inner peace about you,
#2 where does this come from?
Mother Teresa:
Looking at both helpers, “
It comes from Jesus Christ who lives in me, he gives me the faith and courage
I need to walk down these streets of
Narrator:
Reach out and ask God to grant you the gift of courage and humility so you
too can serve others in need. When a poor person dies from hunger, it is not
because God did not take care of him or her. It is because neither you nor I
wanted to give that person what they needed.
Mother Teresa steps out and
addresses the audience:
“ ‘For a sacrifice to
be real must cost, must hurt, must empty ourselves. The fruit of silence is
prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of
love is service, and the fruit of service is peace,’ A quote from Mother
Teresa.”
By: Ruth Outman
2003