(Setting: bedroom with double bed and night stand. A hurricane lamp is on the night stand. Scene begin with Martha and Simon sleeping. Give the audience time to understand that these two are sleeping soundly. Then Joseph enters.
JOSEPH: Mother, father. (no response so touches them) Mother, Father.
SIMON: Huh? What? Joseph?
MARTHA: What? What happened? Who died?
JOSEPH: No one died. I just need to talk to you.
SIMON: Now?
MARTHA: What time is it?
JOSEPH: I don't know.
MARTHA: It's the middle of the night. What's the matter?
JOSEPH: I need to talk to you about...Mary and me...and our marriage.
MARTHA: We sit here all evening together and it is now you want to talk. (looks at Simon) He is getting more like you everyday.
JOSEPH: I am sorry.
MARTHA: You are sorry. I am sorry. I will never get back to sleep.
JOSEPH: It is important.
MARTHA: So is my sleep....
SIMON: Martha, shut up and let the boy talk so we can get back to sleep.
MARTHA: Okay. Okay. you want I shut up - I shut up. So talk.
SIMON: Joseph, what is so urgent that you wake us up in the middle of the night?
JOSEPH: (pause) I just had a visitor in my room.
MARTHA: Aaah! Simon, the club, we've been robbed! Oh, my jewelry, my jewelry! (gets up to check her jewelry box)
JOSEPH: Mother, he was not in here. He was in my room.
MARTHA: Oh, no. Did he hurt you? Oh, let me look at you. Oh, my poor baby!
JOSEPH: Will you shut up and let me talk.
MARTHA: Simon!
SIMON: Joseph!
JOSEPH: Mother...I am sorry.
MARTHA: No, I am sorry. I will be quiet and let you talk about your visitor.
JOSEPH: Well, it was an angel. (Simon and Martha look at each other) An angel of the Lord.
MARTHA: I knew at dinner that mutton did not smell right.
SIMON: Joseph, what are you talking about?
JOSEPH: Father, an angel of the Lord just visited me in my room.
MARTHA: What, it had wings? How did you know it was an angel?
JOSEPH: It had a presence about it. The room became holy...sacred somehow..
MARTHA: Your bedroom?
JOSEPH: Yes, my bedroom.
SIMON: What did he say to you, this....angel?
JOSEPH: It spoke of Mary and the child she is to bare.
MARTHA: What is the rush? You two are not even married yet.
JOSEPH: Well, that is just it. She is pregnant.
SIMON: What?
MARTHA: Oh, mother of God!
JOSEPH: How did you know?
MARTHA: Know what?
SIMON: Joseph, I cannot believe what I am hearing. You have sinned greatly.
JOSEPH: But I have done nothing. That is the problem. I am not....I am not the father.
SIMON: Joseph, do not stand there and lie to us.
JOSEPH: It is the truth.
MARTHA: We have known Mary for, well, all her life. She would never do as you suggest.
JOSEPH: And I would!?
MARTHA: Who else?
SIMON: What is going on here?
JOSEPH: Last week Mary told me that she was with child. I told her that was not possible. Father, we have not even touched. I am an honorable man.
SIMON: Go on.
JOSEPH: She told me an angel had visited her.
MARTHA: Another angel.
JOSEPH: And had said to her that God had found favor with her and has chosen her to be the mother of His child. She is to give birth to God's own son.
MARTHA: And you believed her?!
SIMON: Such blasphemy. I will not listen to this.
JOSEPH: But you must. Because it is true.
SIMON: Joseph, it is one thing to commit a sin but then to stand here in front of your mother and me making up these lies.
JOSEPH: Please, just hear me.
SIMON: I will not listen to lies. The truth is bad enough but to....
MARTHA: Simon, now you shut up and let him talk. And you, you had better make it good.
JOSEPH: Father, believe me I reacted the same way as you are. I thought she was speaking blasphemy. But she insisted. And I have had nothing else on my mind for these past days. This morning I had decided it would be the best for all of us if I canceled our engagement, quietly so as not to cause her more embarrassment.
SIMON: Finally you are speaking sense.
JOSEPH: I had my plans all set, that is until tonight.
MARTHA: The angel.
JOSEPH: He told me it was true - everything that Mary had said. He said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus."
MARTHA: Jesus, what kind of name is that?
JOSEPH: He said, "You are to give Him the name Jesus because He will save people from their sins."
SIMON: Enough!!! That is enough! I will hear nothing more of this. (shaking he is so upset) I do not know what you have been thinking or what you and Mary have been thinking to come up with a story like this that comes straight from hell itself, but there will be no more of this blasphemy in my...in our presence, in this house. Do you hear me?
JOSEPH: Father, hear me, please. I have been called by God to be a father to His son.
SIMON: Let someone else.
JOSEPH: He called me.
SIMON: You are a member of this family...
JOSEPH: I am also a member of God's family.
SIMON: You go through with this and you will ruin our name.
JOSEPH: You think I have not thought of that?
SIMON: Our name, Joseph, will mean nothing.
JOSEPH: If I do not do this, my life will mean nothing. (pause) Father, please, you know me. I am not a liar, a wild story-teller. On my honor, I am telling you the truth.
SIMON: (wrestling with this) But if your mother and I do not believe you, how do you expect others to?
JOSEPH: I will not tell them.
SIMON: You will destroy your reputation.
JOSEPH: I know.
SIMON: Lose your place in this community.
JOSEPH: Yes.
SIMON: Become an outcast!
JOSEPH: I know!
SIMON: And for what - the love of a woman?
JOSEPH: No. For the love of my God.
SIMON: I do not know.
JOSEPH: Mother?
MARTHA: You ask so much, Joseph. You ask us to believe that which is impossible.
JOSEPH: Is that not what our faith is based on?
MARTHA: We will need time.
JOSEPH: Of course, I am going to Mary in the morning. We will be married soon. I hope you will come. (pause) I love you.
(Lights fade on Simon and Martha left alone in their room.)
Sharon Sherbondy 12/92