There are hundreds of stories in the Bible. Why not create a playscript from some of the stories and watch them come to life.

Hi! My name is Danielle and I have enjoyed writing plays for my children and our homeschool friends and would love to share how to write a play, so you or your child can write one too.

If you write a play from something that already exists, you do not have to come up with the dialogue or storyline. You can just choose what you want to include and what you wish to leave out. Using the Bible is an easy way to accomplish this since it is filled with a lot of interesting stories you can use year-round. Many versions are no longer under copyright and therefore part of the public domain, so you can find one that you are allowed to make derivative works from including writing a play. (click here to see the list of Bibles that Bible Gateway uses that are in the public domain.)

The Story of David or Other Old Testament Stories

The story of David is like an action-packed novel and could make a great script for a play. Check out 1 Samuel 16 - 2 Samuel 24 for all the news on this historical figure. It is helpful in your research to read what happens before David is chosen to give a little background and understanding of what was happening in Israel during this time and how David impacted history. As you can see, there are a lot of chapters about David, so you can choose to highlight one chapter or a few chapters depending on how long you want your play to be. Some are more well-known stories like “David and Goliath;” while others may be less familiar. Some may be easier to perform in a play; while others could be complicated or maybe not suited for younger actors or a young audience. The great news is you get to pick and choose what you would like to be in YOUR play.

Although the story of David is no fairy tale, you can use the skills learned in Write a Playscript from a Fairy Tale to tell David’s story. You can take one of the stories about him in the Old Testament and have the narrator tell the story or create dialogue from David’s perspective.

You can also use the skills learned in Write a Playscript from a Book to write his story as you pick and choose which parts you want to use and which parts you don’t. Since his story is based on historical events, you do want to be sure not to leave important details out that may cause it to take a different turn than the original records. Unlike a fairy tale, we don’t want to change the ending of this story.

The Nativity Story

During Christmastime, we host a Nativity play at our home. We use the Bible as our script and narrate the story, while the neighborhood kids act it out. They come an hour early to get their costumes on and run through the play, then they perform it in front of their family and neighbors. It is a fun tradition we enjoyed with our kids, and now my kids are helping lead it for the younger neighborhood kids. (check out Put on a Nativity Play with Your Neighbors)

We use the following chapters and verses as recorded in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew:

• Luke 1:30-35, 38 (Angel speaks to Mary)

• Matthew 1:20-24 (Angel speaks to Joseph) 

• Luke 2: 1-20 (Birth of Jesus, Shepherds)

• Matthew 2: 1-15 (Wise men)

You can reference these verses and create your own script. You can choose to have a narrator for most of the story as we do for our Nativity play, or you can create a script that allows the actors to say more lines and recreate what happened during that time. (FREE Nativity play here!)

It’s as simple as that. 

Miracles of Jesus

One summer my daughter wrote her own play called The Miracles of Jesus. She chose five miracles she wanted to include and had a narrator and the appropriate people from the Bible as the characters. 

She recruited 13 friends to be a part of this little production. The script is only two pages long but gets to the heart of the message so well. She chose music to go along with it and coordinated rehearsals to practice the songs as a group and the lines for the play. 

We held the performance in our living room by turning the furniture to face the “stage” which was pretty much the entry way to our home. 😊 We had the audience sit on the furniture and floor. She had a few props and some simple costumes that each person brought from home. She even created a small program to pass out with the cast list and a thank you. The whole production was simple and affordable and a great way for the neighborhood kids to spend some of their summertime.

Afterwards, one of the kids that participated in her play wrote her own play and invited friends to perform in it. It’s fun to watch kids inspire others. When telling a great story, it’s awesome to see it spread while others take the lead to tell it to their friends.

My daughter chose various miracles she wanted to highlight; meanwhile you could choose others instead. That’s the beauty of using your creativity with something that already exists. You don’t have to come up with the core content of the story but can be creative how you present it.

The Easter Story

There are plenty of stories in the Bible you can use to demonstrate the story of Easter. You can write your own play using the words from Scripture or just have someone narrate the story while students act out what is being said. You can do it as a family or include homeschool friends and neighbors. 

The story of Easter is told from the Last Supper to Judas’ Betrayal to the Crucifixion of Jesus to the Resurrection of Jesus. You can find the records of these in all four Gospels of the Bible except for the Last Supper which is only in the first three:

• Matthew 26-28 

• Mark 14-16

• Luke 22-24 

• John 18-20

Pick whichever book you prefer and choose the verses to include in your script. 

You Can Write a Playscript from the Bible

As you can see it’s easy to write a play if you start from something that is already created like the Bible. Using this method, you or your child can start writing a play today. Check out more blogs in the series, How to Write a Play.

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Inspired by our blog series, check out our full How to Write a Playscript curriculum for more details to help you start writing a play today!

Thanks for joining us!

Danielle at homeschooldrama.com