The Empty Chair: A Thanksgiving Play for Youth

All of us have lost family members, friends, and people who influenced our lives. Although we cannot physically bring these people back to life, they can and do continue to live in our minds, our thoughts, and our dreams. The Empty Chair was created with those people in mind. Of course, The Empty Chair also symbolizes the unseen (yet always talked about) guest at every meal, Jesus himself.

Written for a Thanksgiving service, this program in readers' theater format is set in a restaurant where a pastor has taken four young people out to dinner as a reward for packing Thanksgiving baskets for the needy. Although there are only five in the party, the pastor asks for a table for six. The story unfolds as the pastor explains why he has requested an extra place setting and chair.

The practical format of The Empty Chair allows participants to use scripts instead of memorizing long passages. If desired, the characters may conceal their scripts within their menus. The Christian message is blended into the words of each reader as a means to get the gospel message to the audience.

Raymond I. Keffer currently serves as the Director of the Lawrence County Learning Center, a college and university consortium in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. In addition to 30 years as a public school teacher, Keffer has been an adjunct professor of education at Slippery Rock University and an adjunct professor of economics at branch campuses of Penn State University in Sharon and Monaca, Pennsylvania. Keffer earned a B.S. degree in education from Slippery Rock University and an Ed.D. from Penn State University. Keffer is the author of the CSS titles Disciples Redeemed and Were You There?