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MLK Readers Theater Free Preview Pack

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.

MLKs Freedom March


Historical fiction originally published in the Feb./Mar. 2010 issue of Scholastics
Storyworks magazine. Tells the story of a family who overcome their struggles to
gather together at the 1968 March for Jobs and Freedom in Washington D.C. where Dr.
King delivers his I Have a Dream speech.
For grades 3-7. Parts for 11 students. Ten pages. Includes comprehension activity and
key; CCSs 1,2,3,4, 10)
All plays are fully reproducible. The original purchaser is licensed to copy one class set
per year for use in his or her classroom. School performance rights are included.

Martins Big Dream: The Childhood of Martin Luther King


Originally published in the Jan. 2000 issue of Storyworks and reprinted in the Jan./Feb.
2003 issue of Instructor magazine. Historical fiction based on Kings own writing.
Reveals an incident from Kings childhood in which he was denied being able to play
baseball with his white friends. According to Kings autobiography, this was a factor in
his becoming a Civil Right Crusader.
For grades 3-7. Parts for 10 to 12 students. Ten pages including comprehension activity
and key; CCSs Literature items #s 1,4, and 10

In the Jailhouse with Dr. King


Historical fiction. Set during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, tells the story of a angry
black teen who finds himself in jail with Dr. King. The teen is there because he has
lashed out at oppressive society, but he soon learns about and sees Dr. Kings
commitment to non-violence first hand.
Ideal for grades 5-7. Parts for 9 to 14 students plus innumerable extras. Eight pages
including comprehension activity; CCSs Literature items 1, 3, 4, and 10.

Gonna Let it Shine


Non-fiction from the Jan. 2012 issue of Storyworks. Based on 8-year-old Sheyann
Webbs firsthand account of her involvement in the Bloody Sunday events of 1965 in
Selma, Alabama. Sheyann is historically regarded as MLKs youngest freedom
fighter.
For grades 3-7. Parts for 10 to 14 students plus innumerable non-speaking extras.
Eleven pages including comprehension activity and key; CCSs Literature items
#1,2,3,6, 9, and 10 and Information Text items #1,2,3, and 10.

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.

Scene One HISTORIAN 2: The March on Washington was


The Dinner Table about jobsabout black people getting fair and
equal pay.
ADULT LUCY: I was still just a kid in 1963,
but even I could see America was still divided. ADULT LUCY: My family and I were gathered
around the dinner table when my brother James
HISTORIAN 1: In many communities black brought up the March.
people were still denied the right to vote.
DAD: I dont know how they expect a man to
HISTORIAN 2: They also had a hard time take care of his family on less than $2 an hour.
finding jobs, and even when they did, they were
often paid less money for doing the same work. MOM: Your father asked for a raise, but his
boss said no.
HISTORIAN 1: There were marches and
protests, with participants demanding an end to JAMES: That isnt fair.
segregation and for equality in housing
opportunities and education. DAD: Thats just how it is.

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.

DAD: We already talked LUCY: Is Grandma going to


about this, James. be all right? Lately she hardly
ever gets out of bed.
JAMES: You could still
change your mind. MOM: I dont know, honey. I
want her to go see a
DAD: Ah, son. You specialist, but shes being
know I cant afford to stubborn.
miss work.
JAMES: I sure wish youd all
JAMES: But Dad, its change your minds about the
all about work. Dr. King March. If folks like us arent
and the others are trying willing to risk a little for
to convince the freedom, who will?
President to sign a law
Library of Congress (PD US Gov.)
thatll help people like DAD: Thats enough, son!
you get paid fairly. Theyre hoping a hundred
thousand people will show up.

DAD: When your Uncle Louis went on one of


these marches, his boss fired himsaid he Scene Two
didnt appreciate how good he had it. The Health Clinic
JAMES: When this is over, youll be able to get ADULT LUCY: The truth was that I wasnt
a new joba better job! thinking much about the march. Grandma
hadnt been feeling well, and wed just found
DAD: My job is just fine. It paid for that out she had cancer. Momma wanted her to see a
meatloaf youre eating right now. special doctor.

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

NARRATOR 2: Martin enjoyed singing


Scene 1 and riding his bike. He delivered
the sandlot newspapers. And he loved to play baseball
with two white boys in the neighborhood.
NARRATOR 1: Martin Luther King, Jr.
grew up in Georgia back in the days when WALLACE: Hey, yeah! Martin is on my
Babe Ruth was still hitting homeruns and team!
movies were always filmed in black and
white. CLARK: Nuh uh! I get him. He played on
your team last time.
CLARK: Pitch it, Wallace.
WALLACE: So? I called it! Hes on my
MARTIN: Can I play, too? team.
2000 by Mack Lewis. All Rights Reserved ReadAloudPlays.com Martins Big Dream Page 2 of 10
CLARK: Dont try to push me around, NARRATOR 1: They called Martins
Wallace. Else well have to go to the father Daddy King.
grass!
DADDY KING: Just as the Good Book
NARRATOR 1: The boys would argue says, we must forgive our oppressors.
about who got to have Martin on his team. Whether black or white, whether young or
Sometimes they would call each other old, we must love our neighbors as
names. Sometimes they would get into ourselves.
fistfights. But even as a young boy,
Martin was a peacemaker.
The Ebenezer
MARTIN: No sirs! My daddy Baptist Church

says you shouldnt talk like


that. There will be no fighting
neither.

WALLACE: Your daddy may


be a preacher, but he aint no
umpire.

MARTIN: I was on your team


last time, Wallace. Ill play for
Clark today. Thats fair. VIOLA:
Look
WALLACE: Im going to strike you out, Lorraine,
Martin King! Just you watch. theres
young Martin at age 6 (family photo)
MARTIN: Im not watching anything. Put Martin.
it in here. Im going to hit a homerun! Isnt he just adorable?

LORRAINE: Martin, doesnt it make you


proud to see your father standing so tall
Scene 2 before the congregation?
the Ebenezer Baptist Church
MARTIN: Yes, maam.
NARRATOR 2: Martins father was
pastor of Ebenezer Baptist, a church VIOLA: Youre going to follow in his
Martins grandfather had started before footsteps, arent you, Martin? Will you
Martin was born. become a preacher like him someday?

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.

Narrator: The farmer already knows the clerk


will use any excuse to deny his application. He
also knows his name will be published in the Scene Three Still a Slave
newspaper just for trying.
Adult Shey: One night during the second week
Historian: Black people who tried to register of the movement, I began to run a fever.
were often fired from their jobs or run off their
land. In some places, they were required to pay Mrs. Webb: You been out in the cold and rain
poll taxes in order to vote. too much, young lady. Other folks can sing
tonight. You need to stay in bed.
Narrator: Despite the risks, black citizens
continue to wait their turn. Outside, the people in Adult Shey: Momma brought me some soup and
line shape their determination into song. we talked about my Great Great Granmomma,
whod been a slave.
Cast: We shall overcome / we shall overcome /
we shall overcome someday / oh deep in my heart Mrs. Webb: When they was freed, they didnt
/ I do believe / we shall overcome / someday have the money to go up North, so they just
stayed right here and worked for next to nothin.

Scene Two -- Brown Chapel


Adult Shey: I was just eight years old when I
risked my life to be Dr. Martin Luther Kings
youngest freedom fighter. Whenever Civil Rights
meetings were held at the church, Id sneak out
of the house to attend.

Narrator: Sheyann and her friend Rachel follow


a crowd into Brown Chapel. Dr. King spots them
right away.

King: And what is it you girls want?


Post-slavery life was hard for African-
Americans. They often worked long hours
Girls: We want freedom. just for food and a place to sleep, as if they
were still slaves.
King: I can't hear you.

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

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