Ten Plays + Print.

Ten Plays +: Short, easy dramas for churches
By Rosalie Sugrue 

Revised & Expanded 2021.

Published: January 2021
Words: 29,200.
Soft cover: 114 pages, 6″ x 9″
Language: English
ISBN: 9781988572666

[24 in stock 21 Nov 2024]

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New content in the 2021 edition

The new title Ten Plays + reflects that there are now 14 plays in this collection. 

• How Lay Preaching Began — A dialogue between John Wesley and his mother Susanna Wesley. John is upset that Thomas Maxwell, a layperson, has preached at The Foundery without his permission. It also includes notes about Susanna’s later years, The Foundery and Lay Preachers.

• Go and Tell — The Woman of Samaria meets other village women at the well and explains how her meeting with Jesus has changed her life. She also regains the friendship of these women who had previously shunned her.

• A new Advent Prayer

• Story Telling in Church gives readers suggestions for easy and simple ways to add drama to Bible stories in church.

About the 2018 revised and expanded edition

• Some of these plays have been revised to provide clearer instructions for staging them and to simplify or improve the dialogue.
• ANZAC Day has been re-written.
• A second version of Mahlah & Sisters – The Daughters of Zelophehad – has been added. It is the same story told in less words and is suitable for devotions at fellowships, house groups and youth groups.
• A second version of A Christmas Story has also been provided, with 9 separate pages of 9 separate scripts for 9 people.
• The typesetting of the book has also been updated. Māori words now have macrons where needed.

Summary of the Plays

Lay preacher Rosalie Sugrue’s 14 short plays and meditations are ideal to present in church. They encourage us to engage with Bible and historical characters and explore important themes. Staging is simple. Few props or costumes are required. Unless marked [Adults] these play readings are suitable for children to present. Most work best with a combination of children and adults.

This revised and expanded 2021 edition includes two new plays: How Lay Preaching Began & Go and Tell, a new Advent Prayer and a new section Story Telling in Church with tips about dramatizing Bible readings and other stories.

The plays are:

• Mary Jones’ Walk: Relive the story of the 15-year-old Welsh girl who walked 25 miles in search of a Bible and helped inspire the founding of Bible Society.
• When The Treaty came to Mangungu: An historic event told from the perspective of Rev John Hobbs’ 11-year-old daughter Emma.
  
  
• Easter Women [Adults]: Listen in on five women who may have shared a room on that Saturday night so long ago: Mary of Nazareth – the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene alias Mary of Bethany, the ‘other’ Mary, Joanna and Salome.
  
  
• ANZAC Day: Two children learn more about their family connection with World War One. Suitable for presenting in church when reflecting on war.
  
  
• The Wesley Saga: A rhyming romp through the family history of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, sons John and Charles and their sisters.
  
  
• [New] How Lay Preaching Began: A dialogue between John Wesley and his mother Susanna Wesley. John is upset that Thomas Maxwell, a layperson, has preached at The Foundery without his permission. It also includes notes about Susanna’s later years, The Foundery and Lay Preachers.
  
  
• [New] Go and Tell: The Woman of Samaria meets other village women at the well and explains how her meeting with Jesus has changed her life. She also regains the friendship of these women who had previously shunned her.

• A Peace Presentation [Adults]: Monologues of two women from the scrolls of Hebrew Scriptures and two from the pages of New Zealand history. Ordinary women who by wit and will were each peace achievers.
  
  
• Mahlah & Sisters: A justice issue Bible story for any time of year. Five capable daughters successfully lobby for women to be able to own land.
  
  
• Mahlah & Sisters (B) – The Daughters of Zelophehad: The same story told in less words. For devotions at fellowships, house groups and youth groups.
  
  
• Christmas Women [Adults]: Multiple uses during Advent. Five meditations of women sharing their encounters with Mary for use in advent worship: Elizabeth (Mary’s cousin) talks with Anna; Anne (Mary’s mother); Woman Traveller; Inn-keeper’s Wife; Anna (the prophetess).
  
  
• No Room: Makes a thought-provoking link between refugees arriving by boat at Christmas Island and Mary & Joseph finding no room at the inn.
  
  
• A Christmas Story: 13 stick puppets. Theme: God is with us.
  
  
• A Christmas Story (B): a second version of A Christmas Story with 9 separate pages of 9 separate scripts for 9 people

About the Author

Rosalie Reynolds Sugrue is a fifth generation West Coaster. Both her parents being fourth generation Coasters whose forebears came seeking gold. Rosalie’s great grandfather, James Reynolds, was a local preacher from Cornwall who preached to miners on the beaches and helped establish the first Methodist church in Hokitika. His wife, Eliza, signed the petition that gave women the vote.

Rosalie’s mother Elva Reynolds was a Methodist Deacon and also a lay preacher. Rosalie is a past president of the NZ Lay Preachers’ Association, and the inaugural facilitator of the Methodist Lay Preachers Network 2004, serving as a co-facilitator until 2008. She has led hundreds of church services in New Zealand and the UK. She has also led rest home services, family services, cafe style worship, house blessings and devotions in many other situations.

A wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and author now retired Rosalie has worked as a psychiatric nurse, teacher and motellier.

She has been active in Jaycees, the Methodist Women’s Fellowship, the Community of Women and Men in Church and Society, National Council of Women, the Churches’ Agency on Social Issues, Victim Support and U3A.

She continues an active role as a lay preacher leading one to three services every month in a variety of churches.