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One Lent, I looked everywhere for a Reader’s Theater rendering of St. Matthew’s Passion Narrative.  I was unsuccessful, so I wrote my own script, and in subsequent years, I reworked the script to follow the Passion Narrative found in St. Mark’s and St. Luke’s Gospels. 

You can download all the scripts here: https://www.prayersofthefaithful.org/readers-theater.html

The scripts are arrangements of the words of the English Standard Version Gospel accounts. The original script has four parts, preferably two female (Part 1. Part 2) and two male (Part 3. Part 4) readers.  This homespun recording was done during the pandemic on Aaron's phone (forgive the poor quality!) when I reworked the scripts into a  two-part version for St. Mark’s narrative that could be easily performed by families or housemates. 

In all versions, the congregation plays the part of the crowd and can be prompted by the reader to join in the drama.  Also note that the congregation stands when the people come to Golgotha.

If the division of parts is confusing, it may help to think of this as a fast-paced narrative, almost as though the different readers are stumbling over one another and cutting each other off to tell the story. 

Our outro music is an original song by our friend Dcn. Jeremiah Webster, a poet and professor whose giftedness is rivaled by his humbleness. You can find his published works, including After So Many Fires, with a quick Google.