Scripture: Luke 24:1-12. Quoted lines are from the King James Version (KJV). All other dialogue is ours, written to dramatise the passage; it is not scripture.
The message in one sentence: The women came looking for a dead body and found the living Lord, and the good news is still for anyone who comes looking.
Characters
Staging: the "tomb" is a doorway or a table draped with a white sheet. The cardboard stone leans against it at the start; between scenes, quietly move it aside.
(Lights low. The three women walk slowly down the aisle toward the stage. Mary Magdalene carries the basket. Joanna carries a folded blanket.)
NARRATOR: It is the first day of the week, very early in the morning. Jesus has been buried since Friday. Three women are walking to the tomb, carrying spices they have prepared.
JOANNA: It's so dark. Mary, are you sure this is the right road?
MARY MAGDALENE: I watched where they laid him. I'm sure.
JOANNA: And the spices. Did we bring enough? What if we didn't bring enough?
MARY MAGDALENE: Joanna, we have a whole basket.
JOANNA: I brought a blanket too. In case it's cold. In case we have to wait. In case-
MARY, MOTHER OF JAMES: In case of what?
JOANNA: I don't know! It's been that kind of week.
(They stop. Mary Magdalene sets down the basket.)
MARY, MOTHER OF JAMES: There's one thing none of us has said yet.
JOANNA: The stone.
MARY MAGDALENE: The stone.
JOANNA: It's enormous. It took soldiers to move it. We are three women with a basket and a blanket.
MARY MAGDALENE: Then we'll pray someone is there to help. We're going anyway.
(They walk up onto the stage. The stone has been moved aside. They freeze.)
NARRATOR: And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. They went in, and they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
JOANNA: (whispering) Somebody moved it. Who moved it? I didn't bring a plan for this.
MARY, MOTHER OF JAMES: He isn't here.
(Angel 1 and Angel 2 step out, standing either side of the doorway. The women fall back and bow their heads.)
NARRATOR: As they stood there, much perplexed, two men stood by them in shining garments.
ANGEL 1: Why seek ye the living among the dead?
ANGEL 2: He is not here, but is risen.
ANGEL 1: Remember what he told you, back in Galilee. That he would be handed over, and crucified, and on the third day rise again.
(A pause. Mary Magdalene slowly lifts her head.)
MARY MAGDALENE: He said that. He did say that.
MARY, MOTHER OF JAMES: We heard him. We just didn't understand.
JOANNA: (dropping the blanket) Then we don't need the spices. We don't need any of it.
MARY MAGDALENE: We need to tell the others. Now!
(The women hurry off. The angels step back. Peter enters from the other side, out of breath.)
NARRATOR: The women told the apostles everything. But their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. Then Peter got up and ran to the tomb.
PETER: (panting) Idle tales, I said. Women's stories, I said.
(He looks inside, then picks up a corner of the white sheet.)
PETER: The linen cloths. Folded and laid by themselves. No one steals a body and leaves the cloths behind.
(He sits down slowly on the edge of the stage.)
PETER: What has happened here?
NARRATOR: Peter went home, wondering at what had come to pass. And that is where many of us begin: wondering. The women came looking for the dead, and they found that Jesus is alive. Whoever you are, whatever kind of week you've had, the stone is rolled away for you too.
(Lights down. End.)
Doubling notes: 5 actors: one Angel, and the Narrator reads Peter. 4 actors: also cut Mary, mother of James, and give her lines to Mary Magdalene. Young children: give them Angel 2 (one line).
Rehearsal tip: one read-through, one walk-through on the stage, one full run. The comedy is all Joanna's worrying: let her rush, and let the other two be calm.
Licence: free to perform in your congregation, and to copy for your cast. Please don't sell it or post it elsewhere.