DOWNLOAD PDF of Script: ShirLaLa Passover Story Script
An Interactive Passover Story Script
by Shira Kline
Notes for the Narrator:
- This is a completely interactive experiential re-telling of the Pesach story for an early childhood audience and their parents.
- When you see a word all in caps, this is a word you wait for the audience to say with you. They know these answers because they understand the implied clues. They may also recognize the answers as lyrics from a song or are familiar with the story.
- Ideal room set up with ample open space, parents and children sitting together on the floor, so that you can move in and out of the group, and so that you can all boogie (of course).
- Children and adults are called on to play different roles. At times you will narrate the dialogue and other times you will cue the storytellers to say lines. Throughout the story, I address the audience as “you,” “we,” “storytellers,” and/or I “role” them in a character and call them by this name.
- Musical accompaniment on the guitar is very helpful as it layers the story with a soundscape, creating a soundtrack for the story. Try a range of strumming styles from dramatic loud tremolo to light and gentle picking.
- Songs that I use to tell the story are highlighted in blue with sources when I have them.
- “Stage directions” are in italics, these are often meant to be ad-libbed. Use your whole body to tell this story!
SONG: Everybody Has a Story (Craig Taubman, www.craignco.com)
NARRATOR:
A long long long long long… Storytellers, help me out with the “long long longs”
(gesture to audience, play sounds effect on guitar) “…long time… AGO! Our great great great great… We need a LOT more of these “greats!” (elicit more “greats”) Our great grandmas and grandpas were living in Egypt, smooshed together in a narrow place where they could barely look this way or that.
SONG: All I Wanna Do (CD: It’s a Kid’s Life, by Imagination Workshop)
(Interrupt the song with:) But the new King Pharaoh was always in a bad mood making his bad mood face (elicit bad mood faces) and saying “NO! NO! NO!” I want you to do everything MY WAY!” (return to the song, interrupting intermittently with King’s Pharaoh’s “NO! NO! NO!”)
They didn’t get to go to playgrounds, they didn’t get to eat ice cream, they didn’t get to play with their friends and buy new clothes, they were stuck in this place. (This is my way of inserting the translation of “Mitzrayim,” the Hebrew word for Egypt, which means “Narrow Place.”)
They had to work all day and all…NIGHT! When it was dark and when it was …LIGHT! Whooooo it’s hot out here in the ….DESERT. Well, we got a lot of work to do so everyone take out a big heavy hammer (mime taking out a giant hammer and swinging over your head, quickly moving back to the guitar to emphasize each bang with a loud strum in the key of the song) and…BANG! BANG! 3 bangs… BANG BANG BANG! (act out this entire song)
SONG: Building Cities (CD: ShirLaLa Pesach, Song by Shirley Cohen) OR Bang Bang Dig Dig (CD: Seder Song Revival, Song by Elana Jagoda)
We were slaves and it was hard!!
But there was one young man (Identify a child who is paying close attention) probably just a bit older than you (addressing this child) who said, ‘ This is terrible!! I can’t even! No, This is awful. I gotta get outa here.’ (at this point, I’m not expecting this child to repeat these lines, rather I’m narrating the story and engaging each audience member personally)
And he left!
(guitar accompaniment takes on “mysterious” sound, minor chords perhaps, to introduce this new, strange character and foreshadow his upcoming bravery.)
He went up into the hills.
(Gesture with the neck of guitar, eyes and arms guiding everyone’s imagination into the hills of Midian.)
And here, he stayed. He became a…. SHEPHERD! He took care of….. SHEEP! Storytellers, we need lots of sheep now. “Baa baa baa!” And there he was tending to his sheep one fine day
(Gesture for more “baa baa.” Guitar accompaniment switches to light gentle picking for us to imagine a calm and peaceful life up there in those hills)
when suddenly… (guitar chords change to reflect something new, a question coming)…
(Point directly towards a spot in the center of the room) What’s that over there? (Elicit these answers from the audience.)
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To Download the Complete Script, click HERE ShirLaLa Passover Story Script
Happy Pesach everyone! For talking points on the story and plenty of activities, printables and recipes please visit ShirLaLa’s Blog Sameach.
