Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The first few scenes of the plays shown here appear on the following pages. Full plays can be downloaded at the
Mackowiecki Lewis store on TeachersPayTeachers.com. Visit ReadAloudPlays.com for additional info.
2015 by Mack Lewis. All Rights Reserved ReadAloudPlays.com MLK Plays Preview Pack Page 2 of 3
Cast:
Historians 1 & 2 Adult Lucy the Narrator Lucy an eleven year old girl
James Lucys teenaged brother Mom & Dad their parents Grandma
Clayton a young man from California Erik a young man from Ohio
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2010 by Mack Lewis. All Rights Reserved. ReadAloudPlays.com MLKs Freedom March -- Page 2 of 9
JAMES: It doesnt have to be, Dad. You should JAMES: But Dad, you know Dr. King preaches
come to the march. We all need to be there! non-violence. Besides, this march is going to be
different. If enough people show up, it could be
ADULT LUCY: We were all quiet for a spell, a turning point.
hoping that James and Daddy wouldnt get into
another of their arguments. James had been DAD: Like I said, James, I cant risk losing my
reading about Dr. King. He was excited about job.
the changes taking place. But Daddy, well, he
didnt exactly want things to stay the same. He MOM: And I have much too much do, what
just didnt know what he with taking care of Grandma
could do about it. and all.
MOM: Your father just wants to keep us safe. MOM: The clinic isnt going to take care of this,
They just had a big march down in Birmingham Mother!
where a lot of people got hurt.
GRANDMA: We dont have the money, and
DAD: Thats right. The marchers were met with thats that. Whats another doctor going to do
fire hoses and police dogs. anyway?
2010 by Mack Lewis. All Rights Reserved. ReadAloudPlays.com MLKs Freedom March -- Page 3 of 9
Characters:
Martin--Martin Luther King, Jr. as a boy Clark and Wallace--the sons of the local grocer
Daddy KingMartins father MedgarMartins friend Mrs. KingMartins mother
Narrators 1 and 2 Viola and Lorraine--older women in Martins church
Mrs. Conner--the grocers wife Adult Martin--Martin Luther King, Jr. as an adult
2000 by Mack Lewis. All Rights Reserved ReadAloudPlays.com Martins Big Dream Page 3 of 10
An original play set during the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 56
In the Jailhouse
with Dr. King
By Mack Lewis ReadAloudPlays.com
Cast of Characters:
Emmitta 13 year old African-American VoiceEmmitts voice later in life
Historianthe historical narrative Dr. King
Bus Driver Shop Owner Stranger Policeman
Prisoners 1, 2, and 3 Mayor Man Woman
Prologue
Montgomery, Alabama
VOICE: I got to hearin how bad I was so much,
VOICE: Truth is, folks been colorin me bad well, I guess I started believin it.
since the day I was born. It didnt seem to matter
where I went or what I did, people always got to STRANGER: You there. Get away from that
hollerin at me. drinking fountain! You know its not for your
kind!
BUS DRIVER: Get outta there, boy! Those seats
are for whites only. You know the rules. POLICEMAN: Cant you read the sign? This
park is for whites only!
SHOP OWNER: Are you lookin for trouble?
How many times do ya have to be told to come VOICE: I couldnt
in through the back?! read much, but I could What does this
read that. It seemed to line suggest about
HISTORIAN: Racial prejudice made Alabama in me there were only Emmitts attitude?
the 1950s frustrating for everyone. But it may two words a black boy
have been especially confusing for black needed to know: whites only. By the time I
children. turned thirteen, Id had it with whites only.
2010 Mack Lewis. All Rights Reserved ReadAloudPlays.com In the Jailhouse with Dr. King Page 2 of 8
VOICE: Id heard of Dr. King. He was leading
the bus boycott.
Does the mood of
Scene 1 HISTORIAN: When
a young Dr. Martin
the play change right
The Montgomery City Jail here? If so, why?
Luther King agreed
to lead the boycott,
VOICE: It was in 1956 when things took a turn. he didnt expect to end up in jail.
You probably know it as the year of Rosa Parks.
VOICE: The other prisoners seemed excited to
HISTORIAN: It was in December of 55 that a see him.
black woman named Rosa Parks refused to give
up her seat on a city bus. It started the PRISONER #1: Reverend, Im surprised to see
Montgomery Bus Boycott, which many people you here!
consider the start of the modern Civil Rights
Movement. DR. KING: I judge by all
the black faces that even
VOICE: But for me it was the jailhouse is
the year of goin to the segregated.
jailhouse. Fed up with the
way people treated me, I PRISONER #2: Thats
threw a rock through the right. Whites and blacks
window of a whites suffer in separate cells.
only business. Makes you wonder if
theirs is as dirty and
POLICEMAN: Go on, disgusting as ours!
boy. This is where the
likes of you belong. VOICE: Dr. King saw
what I saw: hard men
VOICE: As the big iron sittin on broken
door shut behind me, fear benches, and others lying
swept over me like a cold on torn mattresses. Why,
wind. Though all the faces the toilet was right out in the open in a corner of
were black like mine, they seemed no safer than the cell!
those that had always colored me bad.
DR. KING: No matter what you men have done,
POLICEMAN: Until somebody pays for that you dont deserve to be treated like this.
window, youre gonna rot in here.
PRISONER #3: Certainly you dont deserve it,
VOICE: I wedged myself into a corner and tried Reverend.
to make mself as invisible as could be. Truth is,
I was scared of just about everybody there. But PRISONER #1: Thats right! Why you here, Dr.
then the jailer brought in another prisoner. King?
POLICEMAN: All right, King. Get on in there DR. KING: Believe it or not, they arrested me
with all the others. for going thirty in a twenty-five mile per hour
zone.
2010 Mack Lewis. All Rights Reserved ReadAloudPlays.com In the Jailhouse with Dr. King Page 3 of 8
The Selma to Montgomery March & the 1965 Voting Rights Act
Cast:
Sheyann Webb an eight-year-old girl Rachel West her nine-year-old friend
Adult Sheyann Historian Narrator
Dr. King Rev. Hosea Williams
Mr. Webb Mrs. Webb Sheyanns parents
Clerk at the courthouse Lady Marcher Lawman Farmer
Scene One Selma, Alabama, 1965 Adult Shey: I was there when Amelia Boynton
and other Civil Rights leaders led these marches.
Adult Shey: The 15th Amendment gave African- These events often ended with all the marchers
Americans the right to vote way back in 1870. being arrested.
Historian: But nearly one hundred years later, Narrator: An old farmer is trying to register, but
black people were still being denied access to the hes required to take a literacy test.
polls.
Historian: Literacy tests were rigged for failure.
Narrator: Three hundred people have marched White people didnt have to take them.
to the courthouse in Selma, Alabama, to register
to vote. Most in line wont be allowed inside. Farmer (reading): Who was Zachary Taylors
vice-president? Why, that itd be
2014 by Mack Lewis, All Rights Reserved ReadAloudPlays.com Gonna Let it Shine, Page 2 of 11
Clerk: Youre writin outside the line, old man. Girls: We want freedom.
Youve failed already. You cant register. You
cant vote. You may as well quit right now. King: This time I want you to say it like you
mean it. What is it you want?
Farmer: You cant tell me that I cant register.
Ill try anyway. Girls: Freedom!
Clerk: So be it, but you wont be votin in this King: That's the way I want to hear it!
county.
2014 by Mack Lewis, All Rights Reserved ReadAloudPlays.com Gonna Let it Shine, Page 3 of 11
Plays by Mack Lewis from ReadAloudPlays.com
Those in bold are available on TeachersPayTeachers. Those in red are in Read Aloud Plays: Classic
Short Stories (Scholastic, 2010)
A Piece of String (Scope, Nov. 2013) Sitting Down for Dr. King (Storyworks, Jan.
A Retrieved Reformation (Scope, Nov. 2011) 2003; Scholastic Classroom Prod., 2009)
Abraham Lincoln: Spies & Rebels Sleepy Hollow (Storyworks, Nov./Dec. 2009;
Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol (Storyworks Scope, Oct. 25, 2010)
Nov./Dec. 1998 ) Stolen Childhoods [Worked to the Bone]
Cyclops: The Monster in the Cave (Scope, (Scope, Oct. 31, 2011; Junior Scholastic,
Sept. 2012; Storyworks, Nov./Dec. 2015) Feb 27, 2012)
Fly Me to the Moon: Apollo Moon Landing The Baltimore Plot (PLAYS magazine, Jan/Feb
Freedom for the First Time: A Slaves 2002)
Narrative The Birthmark (Scope, Jan. 12, 2013)
Gabriel Grub The Daring Escape of Henry Box Brown
Girl. Fighter. Hero: The Story of Sybil (Storyworks, Feb./Mar. 2001; Jan. 2016)
Ludington (Scope, Sept. The Gift of the Magi (Storyworks,
2015) Nov./Dec.
Gogols The Nose 2001; Scope, Dec. 2010)
Gonna Let it Shine [Pigtails & The Girl Who Got Arrested
Protests: The Girls Who (Storyworks, Jan./Feb.
Marched with Dr. King] 2011; Scope, Jan 11)
(Storyworks, Jan. 12) The Giving Spirit (Scholastic
How Jackie Robinson News 4, Dec. 7, 2009)
Changed America The Legend of Betsy Ross
(Storyworks, Oct. 2004) (Storyworks, Jan. 2002)
I Have a Dream: The Child- The Monkeys Paw (Scope,
hood of Martin Luther April 23, 2012)
King (Storyworks, Jan The Necklace (Storyworks,
00, Instructor, Jan/Feb 03) Nov./Dec, 2002;
In the Jailhouse with Dr. King Scope, Feb. 14, 2011)
Lewis & Clark and Bird Girl (Storyworks, The Open Window
Nov./Dec. 2003) The Secret Soldier (Storyworks, Nov./Dec.
MLKs Freedom March [March for Freedom] 2012; Scope, Mar. 11, 2013)
(Storyworks, Feb./Mar 2010) The Tell-Tale Heart (Storyworks, Oct 08;
Newsies, Scope, Mar. 15 (coming soon to TpT) Scholastic News 5/6, Mar 30, 09;
Penelope Ann Poes Amazing Cell Phone: Scope magazine, Sept 11)
Modernized Tell-Tale Heart Two Plays from the American Revolution:
Peter Rabbit Eagles Over the Battlefield, A Bell for the
Ponce de Leon & The Fountain of Youth Statehouse
Richard Wright and the Library Card We Shall Overcome: The Birmingham
(Storyworks, Sept. 2001) Childrens Crusade
Rikki Tikki Tavi When Leonard Refused to Say the Pledge
2015 by Mack Lewis. All Rights Reserved ReadAloudPlays.com MLK Plays Preview Pack Page 3 of 3