The Dramatization of Bible Stories Part 3

_Seventh Brother:_ I see merchants in the distance. Let's sell Joseph to them.

[_One brother goes after the merchants, while the others bring_ JOSEPH _from the pit. Merchants enter._]

_Tenth Brother:_ What will ye give us for this lad?

_Merchant:_ I guess we can give ye about twenty pieces of silver.

[_Merchants take_ JOSEPH _with them. Brothers go on their way. Enter_ REUBEN _after his brothers have gone.

He runs to the pit._]

_Reuben:_ Joseph! Joseph! Where art thou? The lad is gone.

Whither shall I go?

[REUBEN _goes away, sobbing and wringing his hands._]

END

At the meeting when these were read the children began to criticize the length of the play. One little boy made the remark, "We keep telling the same things over; why can't we leave out that second scene? It is so short, and Joseph could tell his brothers in the third scene that he didn't find them at Shechem." This suggestion was readily accepted, and as a consequence the second scene was omitted. Then the entire group consciously worked on the play to see what parts were unnecessary.

Several children had recently been to the theater and had seen some good plays. They told the others that there were few scenes and that there was much left to the imagination of the audience. The result was that this long-drawn-out play was cut down to three essential scenes.

The first scene was placed at Dothan, and was much the same as the original scene iii. The second scene was placed at Pharaoh's palace where Joseph was brought to interpret the king's dream. The third represented the brothers coming to Joseph with Benjamin, the youngest, ending with Joseph's forgiveness of them and his sending for Jacob, their father.

After these three scenes were decided upon, the older children were asked to begin writing them out in final form.

At the fifth meeting of the club all the children sat in a circle with Bibles and pencils and paper and, together with the leader, they formulated the speeches, making them conform as nearly as possible to those in the Bible. The work that had been done outside was discussed and built upon. This part of the procedure did not take as long a time as it may seem, because the children knew so well what thoughts they wanted to express--they had lived the story so many times. They practiced after this, using the words they had decided upon.

For the next meeting or two the children acted out the play, trying each time to improve it by better interpretations of the parts. The fact that they had learned definite words did not in the least check the freedom of the action or cause the play to lose the spontaneity which first characterized it, for the reason that the story had quite become a part of the children before they decided upon the set speeches.

The question arose as to which children should take certain parts. In some instances several wanted to learn the part of one particular character. They were each given the opportunity of learning it, and then at the next meeting each acted it as best he or she could before the group. The other children were judges and decided upon the one who seemed to represent the character best. Whenever this method of choosing characters has been employed there has never been any hard feeling on the part of a child because he was not chosen. The justice of the choice is quickly recognized when it comes in this way rather than from the leader.

There were many little children in this club who were scarcely old enough to learn a part or to say very much. They were easily worked into the caravan, or they took such parts as servants in Pharaoh's court. Each child was made to feel that one part was just as important as another and that those who had nothing to say were very essential elements because of their acting.

Eight or nine meetings were needed before the play was entirely finished. The children had very simple slips for costumes which they had been wearing at each rehearsal. Bright-colored sashes and headdresses they brought from home. Pharaoh was more gaily dressed than the others. The child who took the part made for himself many ornaments from gilt paper.

Very little attention was given to stage setting, what was used was extremely simple. A few of the older girls made designs from the Egyptian lotus to stand around the walls of Pharaoh's palace or to be carried by the servants. Colored ill.u.s.trations of Bible stories by Tissot were suggestive helps in these details. The ten brothers made themselves shepherd staffs from limbs of trees. This small amount of stage setting and costuming was used at many rehearsals and was all that was necessary to produce the right atmosphere.

As soon as the children felt that the play represented their best effort they invited their parents and friends and presented it before them one Sunday afternoon at the time for the regular meeting.

It happened that a few days before the final presentation four of the princ.i.p.al characters were taken ill with measles and chicken-pox. Four others, who had not given special attention to these parts, but who had minor parts, a.s.sumed the important roles and went straight through the play with no trouble whatever. The audience never knew the difference and the children thought that it was entirely natural that they should be able to do this. The play all the way through was characterized by a spirit of dignity and seriousness.

As direct results of this work in dramatization it was noted that all the children had acquired a certain freedom of expression, a self-confidence, without conceit or too much sureness, and the ability to work harmoniously with the group. One or two timid children learned to forget themselves, and one overconfident child was helped by seeing that others could learn to do the part even a little better than herself.

The children who took part in this little play of _Joseph_ will never forget it. Several years after the play was given they were frequently referring to it with great happiness. Joseph is one of their favorite characters because they have lived through his experiences with him.

The following is the play as it was given in its final form. It is not to be taken as a play which may be given to children to be learned as it is; it is given here that there may be some idea of the standard which may be reached.

JOSEPH

SCENE I

PLACE: Dothan.

CHARACTERS: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph, Several Ishmaelitish Merchants.

[_The ten brothers are sitting and lounging on the ground, eating bread._]

_Reuben:_ Shall we stay longer in this place? Our flocks have fed well in Shechem and Dothan. Let us return again unto Canaan and to the tent of our father, Jacob.

_Judah:_ Oh, why should we go back? Our father loveth us not! It is Joseph, our younger brother, that he favoreth!

_Levi:_ Yes, this Joseph! This dreamer of dreams! He thinketh he is greater than we. He thinketh he shall rule over us!

_Judah:_ Ye heard him when he said, "Hear this dream which I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and bowed down to my sheaf."

_Simeon:_ Ha! Shall he indeed reign over us? Or shall he have dominion over us?

_Levi:_ Yea, and he dreamed yet another dream, for he said, "Behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down unto me."

_Dan:_ What is this dream which he has dreamed? Shall his mother and father and eleven brethren indeed come to bow down themselves to him?

_Simeon:_ Joseph and his dreams are hateful unto me! I was glad when our father said to us, "Take the flocks to feed in Shechem," for now we are free of him.

_Levi:_ It seemeth to me that I see this Joseph, this dreamer whom we hate. He is yet afar off, but he surely approacheth us!

_Reuben:_ Can it be he?

_Dan:_ Yes, for I see the coat of many colors, the coat our father made for his favorite son.

_Levi:_ Why should he come to us? Cannot our father trust the flocks to our hands without sending this Joseph to spy on us?

_Dan:_ It is he! It is Joseph!

_Simeon:_ What shall we do?

_Judah:_ Our time is come. We despise him; let us slay him.

_Reuben:_ Nay, thou dost not mean to slay him!

_Several:_ Nay! Nay!

_Judah:_ We must surely slay him. We must rid ourselves of this dreamer. Think how he said he should reign over us! Let us be rid of him!

_Simeon:_ Yes, thou art right--we must slay him.