Persevere-Drama Skit

Persevere-Drama Skit

Themes: Black History; President Obama; Martin Luther King Jr.; Nelson Mandela; persevering through difficult times
Categories: Black History 
Summary:

President Obama is feeling down: his health care reform hasn't gone as he had hoped and his approval rating is low.  While talking with First Lady, Michelle, Barack begins to question whether or not he should have ever run for a second term.  On some days, he would like to go back to being a "normal" person again. Michelle tries to convince him that change takes time and that he is exactly where he needs to be right now.  Unconvinced, Michelle wishes that Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. were here to talk some sense into her husband.  After all, she tells Barack, "where would the world be today if they had given up during hard times?" Suddenly, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. are standing in the same room, causing Mr & Mrs Obama to faint.  When the President comes to, he embarks on a conversation about perseverance and fighting for what you believe in, with two of history's greatest leaders. This skit is about hope in the face of struggle, and standing up to fight for what is right, no matter what current situation you are in. 

 
 
Style: Comedy/Drama

$10.00
Add to cart

Characters: 4 (3 Male, 1 Female)
Length: 5-8 minutes
 
Excerpt (Sample)

Setting: A living room.

As the scene opens, Barack Obama sits in a chair holding a coffee cup.  He is dressed in pajamas and a robe. He is somber and contemplative. After a moment Michelle Obama enters, also in pajamas and a robe. She sits next to Barack.

Michelle:

I thought I might find you in here.  What are you doing up at this hour?  It's late. 

Barack:

I couldn't sleep. 

Michelle:

(noticing his coffee cup) No wonder.  How many cups of coffee have you had?

Barack:

It's decaf. 

Michelle:

Oh.  If it's not the coffee keeping you up, then what is?

Barack:

I'm the President of the United States.  Do I need any other reason?

Michelle:

This is your second term as President.  I thought you'd learned how to handle most of those pressures by now.

Barack:

I don't think you ever learn to handle it - there's just varying degrees of stress and worry.

Michelle:

(smiles, tries to lighten the mood) So, what is it tonight? Health care reform, social security, Biden's boring speeches ...?

Barack doesn't answer; he looks sad and deep in thought

Michelle:

(smile fades, she is  now concerned) Barack?  Are you okay?  What is it?  Can you tell me?

Barack:

(hesitates, then answers) Do you think we made a mistake, Michelle? Should we have stopped at 4 years and then threw in the towel?

Michelle:

On the Presidency?  No! I think we're exactly where we need to be.

Barack:

Really?  Even though the economy is still at an all-time low, my health care reform is perceived as a joke, and my approval rating is in the gutter?  Still think we're right where we need to be?

Michelle:

Yes.  Change takes time, Barack. This country didn't get to where it is overnight, and it's not going to change overnight either. 

Barack:

Maybe it would change faster with someone else at the helm. 

Michelle:

What are you saying?

Barack:

I'm saying, I wonder if it was a mistake to run again.  Maybe I should have just given up after 4 years, and given someone else a try. 

Michelle:

Where is all this coming from?  The Barack I know isn't a quitter. 

 

 

Barack:

The Barack you know is tired.  He's worn-out.  He is stressed past the point of normal human limitations.  I don't think I want to be President anymore. I just want to go back to being normal again.  

Michelle:

I see. So, this is what a Presidential pity party looks like, huh?

Barack:

Pity party? You have no idea what kind of stress the Commander and Chief goes through every single day!

Michelle:

Of course I do!  I'm right here with you, babe. 

Barack:

Then how can you not be more sympathetic for what I'm going through?

Michelle:

Maybe because you aren't the first to experience any kind of hardship.  Or do you forget what our people have come through, or the leaders who came before you to pave the way for where we sit right now? 

Barack:

(sighs) I haven't forgotten.

Michelle:

I think you have.  What if Martin Luther King Jr. had said, "I give up. I quit."  Where would we be today?  Or what if Nelson Mandela had said, "It's too hard.  It's not fair. I quit." 

Barack:

You can't compare me with great men like that.

Michelle:

Why not?  You're all African-American men.  You're all influential leaders.  And you all have a cause worth fighting for.  

Barack:

 But they were fighting for civil rights.  I'm fighting for health care.

Michelle:

You're fighting for the good of our country, for what you believe in, for what's right.  Just as they did. 

Barack:

It's not the same.

Michelle:

I wish you could talk to them in person, and then perhaps you'd see.

Barack:

(laughs)  Remember what happened last time I made a wish like that?  Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta appeared in our living room.

Michelle:

(stands up quickly) Oh no they didn't!  We both agreed that never happened, remember?  That was just a hallucination brought on by over-excitement at being elected to the White House. 

Martin Luther King Jr (MLK) and Nelson Mandela enter

MLK:

Then I'm afraid you're about to be over-excited again my dear. 

Michelle:

Oh Lord, here we go again! (she faints)

Barack:

(stands up and points) Y..y..you're Martin Luther King Jr. and you're N..N..N...Nelson M..M..Mandela.  Lord, have mercy! (he faints)

Mandela:

(to MLK) Should we do something?

MLK:

Give them a minute.  They'll come round.  They did last time.

Mandela:

Last time?  You've been here before? 

MLK:

Yes. Coretta and I paid them a visit not long after he became President. You can imagine my surprise.

Mandela:

Yes.  It's quite a wonderment as to how you can be in the glory of heaven one minute, and standing in the White House back on earth the next.

MLK:

I was talking about seeing a black man elected President of the United States.  I never thought I'd see the day!

Barack begins to stir

Mandela:

Look, I think he's coming round.

Barack:

(a bit groggy) What happened?

MLK:

You fainted.  Again.

Barack:

(in recognition, to MLK) You!  (And looking at Mandela) You!  What are you both doing here?

Mandela:

I was hoping you could tell us. 

Barack:

Well, one minute I was talking to Michelle about giving up the White House and the next minute I've got ghosts standing in my living room!

MLK:

Give up the Presidency?  But you  just got started.  Why would you give that up so quickly?

Mandela:

This is actually his second term. 

MLK:

(surprised) You were re-elected?

Barack nods his head "yes"

MLK:

The American people elected a black man as President, not once but twice, and you want to quit?

Mandela:

Things still not going so well, huh? 

Barack:

Affordable health care for everyone sounded like a good idea but it's turned into a joke.  Employment is up but it's still at an all-time low across the boards, and I'm still getting flack for our military strategies.  Not to mention, I've still got people who don't believe I'm an actual American citizen! 

Mandela:

So, you've had some setbacks.  Doesn't mean you should quit.

MLK:

Nelson is right.  Why, if we had quit just because things got hard, the country wouldn't be where it is today.  Every day I was faced with threats on my life and on the lives of my family.  I was spit on, hated, thrown in jail...you name it. 

 

 

Mandela:

I was imprisoned for 27 years of my life for fighting against racial domination.  I missed the chance to raise my children and see my grandchildren grow.  I ate slop, did without many of life's comforts like a bed to sleep in, and I had little contact with the outside world.

Barack:

How did you get through it?

Mandela:

It's not the situation that defines you; it's how you define your situation.  I could have let those prison guards take away my dignity; I could have rotten in that jail cell. Or I could have renounced everything I believed in and been set free. I wasn't willing to do either.

MLK:

I could have given up, passed the torch and the responsibility on to someone else. 

Barack:

Then why didn't you?

MLK:

Because of the respect for the men and women who came before me: for every slave who was beaten and separated from their family; for every inventor who said "I can," instead of, "I can't"; for every soldier who was struck down fighting for the rights of our country. They didn't give up on what they believed in and so, neither could I.