The Five Dollar Woman

New One-Act Play!
The Five Dollar Woman

The ten-minute drama "God in My History", an Australian celebration of the power of God through a willing vessel, has been renamed and remodelled.

"The Five Dollar Woman" is now available for 8 actors (4 male, 4 female) for use on a functioning theatre stage. Stage charts are provided for prop positioning, actor entrance and exit directions (all operating from stage left), and actor movement on stage.

The play is still available in Convention format, but participants need to know it requires speedy costume changes because actors play more than one role -- meaning creativity and lots of practice!

The kit is not available in colour at this time. If you don't have access to a real $5 Chisholm note, save this image and print it on a colour printer.

This image is courtesy of the Reserve Bank of Australia. You can read the history of the note here at the Reserve Bank's online Museum.

What's the play about?

This drama is based on the life of Caroline Chisholm, the woman who said that what Australia needed most was good and virtuous women. The theme of God’s involvement in our history is depicted through a father/daughter conversation in his barrister’s office and their visualizing of the lives of immigrants in the convict town of Sydney in 1838, closing with a personal challenge for Christian service.

How the Judges Judge

Understanding how the judges work is vital to feeling at peace about competition results. It is also necessary for adequate preparations. Read this article, WINNING - Not the Ultimate Goal, to be at the top of your game.

Speeches for Girls I

In response to complaints about girls not being allowed to enter Preaching or Famous Speech, I always ask, "Have you tried Oratory?" If you've got a message you want to share but that doesn't quite fit the Illustrated Storytelling category, write what you want to say in the form of an oration.

I have uploaded two examples for you. Originally an essay, Know the Disease! Know the Cure! was a message I was passionate about and for which I gained a silver medal at South Pacific Student Convention. The other example, printed below, is a personal testimony which girls may use as a Famous Speech (if you're attending a South Pacific convention), or imitate the style for your Oratory text (which you write yourself).

Other tips on finding a suitable speech (male or female) are available here.

Singer Behind the Scenes

ScriptHaven founder Narelle Worboys and her accompanist tour Elder Care facilities entertaining with popular music from the World War era. Half way through the program and immediately before "Amazing Grace", Narelle stops for a chat which goes like this.

I enjoy coming to sing for you each month, and I can tell you enjoy it too, but I wouldn't want you to get the wrong impression about me, so here's the lowdown on Narelle Worboys.

I was born number 2 in a family of 6 children. The youngest died age 3 and a half, and the rest of us spent 15 or so years learning to live with each other. Even if you're all good friends - which we are - I reckon that process never stops!

My father was the principal of a home education provider called New Zealand Christian Academy. Using the Accelerated Christian Education program, my mother homeschooled us right through to University entrance -- although none of us felt the need to step into that wild and woolley realm.

My earliest memories are of singing sacred songs around the piano with my family every morning. Soon my mother began teaching us folk songs, and we embarked on our public career as The Worboys Family Who Sing. Apparently that's something unusual. My teen years and into my twenties were filled with harmonizing amongst my siblings, but one by one they left home and one day I realized I had no-one to sing with. I was devastated.

Deprived of that nice warm buffer of bodies and voices, it was tough making the transition to soloist, but as I got comfortable with it, I began to notice that many people have a hard time believing that someone who sings sweetly could be a bad person. Would you believe me if I said I was a criminal? Well, I took the Good Person Test and failed.

Have you ever taken an honest look at yourself? I mean a really good look?
I looked at myself in the mirror of God's Ten Commandments and the image I saw was an ugly one.

Have I ever lied? Yes.
Have I ever stolen something that belonged to someone else, irrespective of it's value? Yes.
Have I ever blasphemed (using God's name as a cuss word)? Yes.

Liar. Thief. Blasphemer. I was in serious trouble, and that was only 3 of the Ten Commandments. I knew I'd failed to always put God first in my life, the first and greatest Commandment. I knew the Bible says that all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire.

If I died that day and God judged me by that standard, I'd be guilty and deserving of eternal judgement in Hell. Would you be concerned about that? I was.

And then I discovered what God has done for us so we don't have to go to Hell. Do you know what that is?

God came in the flesh as the man Jesus Christ, to suffer and die on the cross, and rise again the third day, paying for our sins with his life's blood. It's like this: I broke God's Law, but Jesus paid my fine. That means when my case comes up on Judgement Day, God can legally commute my Death Sentence and dismiss my case from the courtroom.

What I had to do was repent -- that means to turn away from my sin -- and trust in Jesus Christ like a person trusts a parachute. The moment I did that, God made me into a new creature and empowered me to live in a way that pleases Him.

Death is only a moment away for all of us. How will you plead before the Righteous Judge? If you've repented of your sins and trusted in Christ to save you, as I have done, then you can be 100% sure that you will go to Heaven when you die.

For someone who was once a lawbreaker, now saved by grace, that's wonderful news! Now I walk in newness of life, and sing of Christ who paid my fine and set me free.

Thank you for listening. Let's have some more music!

Speeches for Girls II

In response to complaints about girls not being allowed to enter Preaching or Famous Speech, I always ask, "Have you tried Oratory?" If you've got a message you want to share but that doesn't quite fit the Illustrated Storytelling category, write what you want to say in the form of an oration.

I have uploaded two examples for you. Originally an essay, "Know the Disease! Know the Cure!" was a message I was passionate about and for which I gained a silver medal at South Pacific Student Convention (I've tweaked it a little bit, so maybe I'd get a gold for it now ). The other example, Singer Behind the Scenes, is a personal testimony which girls may use as a Famous Speech (if you're attending a South Pacific convention), or imitate the style for your Oratory text (which you write yourself).

Other tips on finding a suitable speech (male or female) are available here.


KNOW THE DISEASE! KNOW THE CURE!
Written by Narelle Worboys, aged 18

Thesis: All humanity has a life-threatening disease, but there is a cure provided.

We all know that cancer kills. But did you know that all humanity has a disease that kills? It’s called “sin.”

As Christians, we become so tolerant of the evil that surrounds us that we forget it is evil. Oh, maybe we know it’s wrong, but not perhaps evil.

God abhors evil, and this abhorrent evil surrounds us, creeps upon us unawares, permeating even the atmosphere. It is a disease. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Ephesians 5:16 says that the very days are evil.

And yet, as Christians, we must live godly in this present world. To stay healthy, we must keep in perspective. Proverbs tells us, “A wise man feareth and departeth from evil.” Why does he do this? Because “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day . . .” (Ephesians 6:13). Don’t let that evil penetrate you. Don’t let the disease affect you.

What protection can we possibly have against this disease if we were born with it? Psalm 14:3 tells us, “There is none that doeth good, no, not one,” and in our natural state we have no power to repel it. Thus the disease rages within us, and its rewards are dire. Psalm 34:16: “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” Romans 2:9: “Tribulation and anguish (cometh) upon every soul of man that doeth evil.”

Oh, but there’s a wonderful hope, friends, in Jesus Christ, “who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Galatians1v4). This is the cure! God’s saving grace; salvation from the wages of sin, which is death. All we have to do is turn away from the symptoms of our disease and trust in our Divine Saviour.

And having been cured, we are now instructed, “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil” (Psalm 97:10.) But how can we step away from it, for it surrounds us? Listen to Romans 12:21: “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” And 2 Timothy 4:1-2: “I charge thee . . . preach the word . . . reprove, rebuke, exhort . . .” Here is something we must do. No, we cannot ignore it. You see, the world “considers not that they do evil” (Ecclesiastes 5:1). They don’t know! They don’t know they are sick. And how shall they know except someone tell them?

Matthew 5:13: “We are the salt of the earth, but if the salt hath lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” You either stand or you fall: we have been commanded to stand against evil, but if we don’t, evil will tread on us and spread us out! (To stand is to obey. If you disobey, you will fall.) So, we are to be the salt and stand against evil. What happens when salt is applied to a wound? It hurts! The world won’t like what you tell them, but hey, did God say the world was going to love you? No! Matthew 10:22: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.”

We need to fight the disease with the weapons with which we have been provided. Fight the good fight of faith, remembering that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. Apply God’s Word: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

Friends, we must know the symptoms of the disease. They are well described in the first chapter of Romans: “They did not like to retain God in their knowledge . . . they become vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened . . . wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness . . . and a reprobate mind . . . because of the lusts of their own hearts.”

We must remember that the curing is in God’s hands, but our responsibilities are summed up in 1 Samuel 12:23: “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and right way.” Indeed, we must preach, teach, reprove, and rebuke . . . but don’t forget to pray. Pray that the way would be opened for God’s healing waters of life to wash the wounds of evil and save souls from death, for God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Know the disease! Know the cure!

WINNING - Not the Ultimate Goal

A loving mother wrote to me of her grief over her 11-year-old son not gaining a first place in his Platform event at Convention. They wanted to know why he failed. Some of the thoughts I shared with them are written below. If you are preparing for an ACE Student Convention or have just been to one, please read this.


YOU HAVE NOT FAILED

I say well done for the preparation you did in the service of our Lord, but remember that doing your best is all that is required and everything that is required. God doesn't give spiritual 1st or 2nd placings. He requires only that we be obedient to His calling, studying to be approved unto God (I Tim 2:15).

The purpose of Student Conventions is to train up the next generation of godly leaders. The medals are merely an incentive for us to do our best. Winning is not the ultimate goal.

Convention is one small episode in the life of a speech. Where else have you presented your speech? What lives have been changed because they heard that message? What brings about that change -- your skill and talent, or the power of God through a humble vessel? Considering these things helps us keep a healthy perspective. = )

LEADERSHIP TRAINING

I trust you have many years of leadership training ahead of you. Please don't grieve over not getting public praise and awards at every step. God doesn't work like that and neither should we.

I remember my parents withholding certain opportunities and experiences from my siblings and I when we were children because they wanted us to have things to look forward to and aim for in our teen years when we had the maturity to handle them. They built for us an environment that allowed room to learn and grow.

WHAT TO DO NEXT

Part of the learning and growing process is finding out how you can do better next time. That's what the Convention Guidelines and Judges' Forms are for. You should have a Judges' Form from each of the 3 judges.

ACE Student Convention judges do not score presentations by comparing them with other presentations. They score by how well the student fulfills the specifications in the Convention Guidelines and the Judges' Form. That is the standard you are striving to meet, not some other student's choice of material or style of presentation.

Study the marks they gave or didn't give you and the comments they made at the bottom of the page. This should give you clues as to how you can improve the speech you learned, and how to guide your preparations for next year. You can begin those right now. Student Conventions are designed to be the culmination of a whole year's work.


HOW THE JUDGES JUDGE

Understanding how the judges work is vital to feeling at peace about competition results. ACE stipulates 3 judges to ensure a fair outcome -- for example, it means that one judge cannot sway the results through being a tough marker. So long as he marks consistently, the totals will still show who excelled and who didn't. The 3 scores, which often vary significantly, are totalled. Calculating the average of that total (divide by 3)) gives a clearer overall picture of where a presentation falls in the field.

Another thing you may find helpful to know is that ACE does not award a 1st placing if the student's marks don't reach a certain level of excellence. This means if there are only 3 entrants, there isn't an automatic 1st, 2nd, and 3rd because they must earn their placing.

DUMPED IN THE DEEP END

I believe that 11 years old is generally too young to compete at an ACE Student Convention. It's still childhood, usually pre-cognitive. A student has to cope with a high level of stress and lack of sleep.   My suggestion is that you have young students IN TRAINING but not competing. I've seen too many sweet kids in shock after being dumped in the deep end of competition without being coached through private and public performances as a foundation to their Convention efforts.

Train them, give them experience in Christian ministry, but let the children remain children as long as that is appropriate, not feeling pressured to reach beyond the physical, mental, and emotional maturity that God has chosen to give them at this time.