Readers’ Theater Script
For The First Night of Kwanzaa
by
Debbie Taylor
Cricket Magazine/Cricket Media
Adapted From:
"For The First Night of Kwanzaa"
by Debbie Taylor
Cricket Magazine/Cricket Media
Length: 15 minutes
Characters (11-14)
Narrator One Narrator Two Kofi Kendra Mom Dad Artist
Yam/Candle/Kinara Merchant Potter Dancer Brush Seller
Notes:
-Festival merchants can be read by one person using different voices.
-Suggested props: 3 bowls, candles, yams, paintbrush, paints, dollar bill or large coin, kinara, drum, rainstick
-Sound effects are optional.
FOR THE FIRST NIGHT OF KWANZAA
Narrator One: Kofi and Kendra helped prepare for Kwanzaa. They helped decorate the mantel, spread the placemats, arrange fruits and vegetables and wrap gifts.Kofi stumbled into Kendra, who dropped the bowl she had been holding.
Crash!
The fruit bowl for the celebration broke into many small pieces.
Kendra: Oh, no! Now what will hold the fruit and fit between the ears of corn?”
Kofi: “I’ll paint another bowl for tomorrow night’s celebration--in time for the first night of Kwanza. I have one dollar and I can find what I need at the festival market.”
Narrator One: Kofi raced to the festival market on Lenox Square where people sat on stools talking and laughing. Musicians strummed or pounded or shook their instruments. Artists painted a mural.
Kinara Merchant: “Buy this beautiful kinara!”
Yam Merchant: “Sweet fried yams!”
Candle Merchant: “Candles! Hand-dipped candles! Red, green and black! Sh-sh rittle-rattle, sh-sh rittle-rattle, whispered the rain sticks.
Narrator One: Kofi hurried over to a table filed with bowls big enough to hold basketballs and bowls small enough to hold a cricket
Kofi: “I am looking for a bowl to paint for the first night of Kwanzaa.”
Potter: “One of these may do for you, young man,”
Kofi: “This one is too big. This one is too small. But yes, this one is a fine bowl, it’s just the right size. I have a dollar to pay for it.”
Potter: “Young Brother, that is not enough money for even a tiny bowl. But if you help me stack these bowls, I will give you one.”
Narrator One: So Kofi stacked the small teak bowls into the deep pine ones. Potter: “Well done. You may have the bowl.”
Kofi: “Thank you, Sir.”
2
Narrator One: Kofi tucked a bowl under his arm and hurried on through the market, squeezing the crumpled dollar.
Kinara Merchant: “Buy this beautiful kinara!”
Yam Merchant: “Sweet fried yams!”
Candle Merchant: “Candles! Hand-dipped candles! Red, green and black!
Artist: “What is your hurry, young brother?” asked an artist sitting on a stool.
Kofi: “I am going to paint this bowl for the first night of Kwanzaa.”
Artist: “Surely, you will paint this bowl with colors that shimmer like palm leaves
and colors that blush like a ripe mango.”
Kofi: Yes, I will buy these jars of paint.”
Artist: “That is not enough money for even a smudge of paint. But if you will mix
these paints, you may have the leftover paint in those tubes.”
Kofi: “I can do that!”
Artist: “Mix the yellow and blue. Now stir some blue into the red. Fine job. You may have this paint.”
Kofi: “Thank you, Sir.”
Narrator Two: Kofi hurried on through the market.
Brush Seller: “What is your hurry, young brother?”
Kofi: “I am going to paint a bowl for the first night of Kwanzaa. I found the bowl and I have the paint.”
Brush Seller: “Surely you will paint this bowl with a special brush. Buy a brush of soft camel’s hair or stiff horsehair.”
Kofi: “Yes, this one will do. I have a dollar.”
3
Brush Seller: “Ah, that is not enough money for two bristles on a brush. But if you clean these dusty brush handles, you may take one.”
Narrator Two: Kofi polished the brush handles and laid them carefully on a cloth.
Brush Seller: “Well done!”
Kofi: “Thank you, Sir.”
Narrator Two: Kofi chose a brush and hurried on through the market. He dashed past a dancer and her drummer.
Dancer: “What is your hurry, young brother?”
Boom, boomity, boom-boom. Boom, boomity, boom-boom.
Kofi: “I am going to paint a bowl for the first night of Kwanzaa. I found the bowl, I mixed the paint, and I chose the brush.”
Dancer: “Surely you must feel rhythm as you paint. Dance until your heart races like a leopard in the jungle or a zebra on the savanna.”
Narrator Two: Kofi danced and danced until he was out of breath. Then he smoothed out the dollar and dropped it into the dancer’s money basket.
Dancer: “Thank you!”
Narrator Two: He wiped his forehead and hurried home.
Kofi: “Boom, boomity, boom-boom. Boom, boomity, boom-boom.
Narrator Two: In his room, he began to paint. He painted a picture of the fried yams and he painted the dancer’s scarf. Leaves of jungle trees and dust from the plains sprang from this brush. Animals chased each other around the bowl. All the next day Kofi’s bedroom door stayed shut,
Kendra: “I hear a growling beast.”
4
Mom: “Is Kofi dancing in there?”
Dad: “Do I hear drums?”
Narrator Two: Soon it was time to light the first candle of Kwanzaa. Just then, Kofi’s bedroom door opened.
Kofi: “Let’s open this before we light the candles.”
Narrator Two: He placed the box in Mom’s lap. She untied the string, pulled off the top, and reached into the box. Kofi took a deep, deep breath.
Mom: “Oh!”
Dad: “Oh!”
Mom: “It will hold the fruit.”
Kendra: “And sit next to the kinara.”
Dad: “Between the ears of corn.”
Kofi: “And just in time, for the first night of Kwanzaa!”
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ENJOY!