Tapestry of Faith: A Place of Wholeness: A Program for Youth Exploring Their Own Unitarian Universalist Faith Journeys

Leader Resource 2: Reconciliation Role Plays

Role Play 1:

Jill and Chris are members of the First UU Church youth group. At the beginning of the year, the youth group established a covenant that included a commitment to confidentiality. Because of this covenant, Jill felt safe to share with the youth group about her mother's recent diagnosis of cancer. The next week in school, someone came up to Jill and said, "Hey Jill! Chris told me your Mom is really sick." Jill felt betrayed that Chris had told others about her mother's illness.

Instructions: Come up with a role-play for this scenario, making sure that everyone in your group has some part or role. After 10 minutes, you will present this role-play to the larger group. Do not problem-solve or seek reconciliation in the role-play—that will be the role of the large group.

Role Play 2:

Taylor and Hannah are good friends. Hannah has a twin sister Lori, but they have very different interests and don't tend to hang out with the same people. One day Taylor is over at Hannah's house and is invited to have dinner with the family. Taylor gets into a conversation with Lori and they really hit it off. The next week, Taylor and Lori begin hanging out after school and eventually go on a date. Hannah finds out about what is going on, and realizes why Taylor hasn't been hanging out with her as much during or after school lately.

Instructions: Come up with a role-play for this scenario, making sure that everyone in your group has some part or role. After 10 minutes, you will present this role-play to the large group. Do not problem-solve or seek reconciliation in the role-play—that will be the role of the large group.

Role Play 3:

Dylan had to leave for a couple of hours during the school day for a doctor's appointment. When Dylan wasn't in class, Heather started a rumor that Dylan had gotten in trouble and was sent to the principal's office. When Dylan got back to school after the appointment, people were acting strangely around him, giving him "knowing" looks, and giggling. When Dylan's friend, Lex, found out why Dylan was really gone from class, Lex approached Heather and called her out for starting the rumor about Dylan.

Instructions: Come up with a role-play for this scenario, making sure that everyone in your group has some part or role. After 10 minutes, you will present this role-play to the large group. Do not problem-solve or seek reconciliation in the role-play—that will be the role of the large group.

Role Play 4:

Noel was sitting at the school lunch table with a bunch of friends eating and chatting. The conversation turned to their Phys Ed class that morning, where they had done a timed mile-long run. A couple of people at the table who are known as strong athletes in the school began ridiculing their classmates who couldn't run as fast, calling them slow and lazy. Noel sat listening to this conversation, becoming more and more upset and offended.

Instructions: Come up with a role-play for this scenario, making sure that everyone in your group has some part or role. After 10 minutes, you will present this role-play to the large group. Do not problem-solve or seek reconciliation in the role-play—that will be the role of the large group.

Role Play 5:

Rob hung out with a group of friends over the weekend, and at the end of the night, he fell fast asleep. Some of his friends were still awake and goofing around. When they noticed Rob asleep and drooling on his pillow, they started putting things on his face and taking photos of him. When Rob woke up the next morning he had no idea what had happened. The next week he got an automated email saying that someone had posted a photo of him on Facebook/MySpace/Twitter. When he went to see what it was, he discovered a series of embarrassing photos of him sleeping, but had no way of deleting them without approaching his friends who had taken them.

Instructions: Come up with a role-play for this scenario, making sure that everyone in your group has some part or role. After 10 minutes, you will present this role-play to the large group. Do not problem-solve or seek reconciliation in the role-play—that will be the role of the large group.