Frozen People
This skit emphasizes the importance of reaching out to others with the love of Christ in ways of compassion, patience, boldness and acceptance.
Characters: Stranger Geek Conceited Person Swindler Bully Grandma Homeless Person
Setup: Miscellaneous items for the stranger to give to the other people. The clothing of the characters could express their personal traits.
The Skit: A line of people stand close together, facing the audience. Each person in the line is displaying his or her own unique personal characteristics. The line of people may include the types of characters mentioned above (bully, geek, etc) or other kinds of people. They stand in the line fidgeting and interacting with each other. It should be obvious that these people do not get along with each other and don’t want to be here. (Refer to the movie “The Breakfast Club” for ideas about how a person would interact with someone who is not “acceptable.”) Some rude remarks, nasty looks, and possibly a bit of nudging and shoving might occur between the people as they stand there.
A stranger enters from the side and looks at the line of people. The first person in line steps forward to talk to the stranger. The rest of the people in the line freeze in place as the first person interacts with the stranger. If the first person is the geek, he steps forward and sais, “Man! I’m such a geek!” The geek suddenly realizes that there is a person standing next to him. He says, “Oh, hi!” The stranger says, “Hi.” The geek turns to the stranger and begins to pester him with anything and everything that his geeky mind is thinking about. He might say, “When I got up this morning I couldn’t decide if I should wear my plaid pants or these green overalls. Do you like ’em?” The stranger responds, “Sure.”
Important: Each time the geek asks him a question, the stranger is unusually accepting and responds with friendly short answers. And each time the stranger responds with a friendly answer the line of frozen people flinch a little bit and glare “bug-eyed” at the stranger out of the corners of their eyes. Their bodies contort and twist, their eyes bug-out, and they shake noticably, because they can hardly bear to watch the stranger freely talking to the “unacceptable” geek.
The geek continues, “Hey, I missed the bus this morning and had to run all the way to school so as not to miss my Trigonometry test. I sure didn’t want to miss that did I?” The stranger responds, “No.” The geek continues, “And then I realized that I hadn’t taken a shower last night and was wearing my same underwear from last week. Kinda smelly ain’t it?” Finally the geek sais, “Golly! I think you’re just swell! Will you be my best friend?” When the stranger responds, “Okay.” The line of characters suddenly can’t stand it anymore! They break out of their semi-frozen state and shout in unison, “You can’t do that!” Immediately they freeze again. The stranger looks on as the geek sadly bows his head and shuffles backwards into the line and takes on a frozen state.
Then the next person in line comes to life. She steps forward and begins talking to the stranger while the frozen people watch out of the corners of their eyes. In turn, each person carries on a conversation with the stranger who openly accepts them and gives short friendly answers. The line of frozen people flinch each time the stranger answers with a kind word. When the stranger gives his final answer to each person, the line of frozen people suddenly breaks and they all shout in unison, “You can’t do that!”
Here are suggestions for the characters and their last words just before the frozen people shout, “You can’t do that!”:
1. The Geek, “Would you be my best friend?” Stranger, “Sure.”
2. The Bully tries to force the stranger to compromise about something. The stranger stands up for his beliefs. Finally the bully hits the stranger on his face. The stranger turns the other cheek and sais, “Here, why don’t you take another shot at me.”
3. The Swindler tries to talk the stranger out of everything he has in his pockets. The stranger gives him the things. The Swindler finally sais, “Hey pal, how about loaning me $20. I’m flat broke.” Stranger, “Sure, here you go.”
4. Grandma pinches, pokes, hugs and feeds the stranger. Finally she sais, “You are such a nice boy. Come here and give me just one more hug!” He sais, “Okay.”
5. The Conceited Person tells him about all his awards, education, job, income. Finally he sais, “You realize how important and special I really am. Come with me and I’ll show you my trophy case full of awards and medals.” Stranger, “Okay.”
6. The Homeless Person asks for the strangers hat and shoes. He gives them to her. Then she sais, “I’m just so cold. Could you let me wear your jacket?” The Stranger sais, “Here, you can have it.”
After meeting all of the frozen people, the stranger shrugs his shoulders and walks off. The line of frozen characters watch him leave out of the corner of their eyes. One by one, each person steps forward and says something about the stranger. Here’s what they might say…
1. Geek, “I sure wish I had a friend like that.”
2. Bully, “I really admire a person who sticks up for what he believes in.”
3. Swindler, “I think I have to learn to stop taking advantage of other
people.” 4. Grandma, “He was such a sweet young man!”
5. Conceited Person, “I think I could have learned a lot from his humility.”
6. Homeless Person, “I wonder who that person was?”
They exit. Or the stranger comes back out for a group hug.
The end
Biblical Emphasis: Matthew 5:38-44. Other stories of Jesus doing unacceptable things: Luke 5:12-16, John 8:1-11, Mark 11:15-17.
Discussion Starters:
1. What are the rules of conduct in your community, school, or group of friends?
2. What kind of rules or expectations limit your Christian faith?
3. Discuss ways to be more like Christ, to make your faith more real, to reach out to unacceptable people, or to go against rules of conduct?
“Frozen People” Copyright 1998 Cross the Sky Ministries
Permission granted for local use.
www.crossthesky.com