Preamble
After completing the successful run of her off-Broadway show VOTES at the Castillo Theatre, Jacqueline Salit attended a workshop for playwrights led by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Paula Vogel, sponsored by the Vineyard Theatre. Vogel directed each participant to spend 45 minutes writing a short play based on the biblical story of The Prodigal Son. This is the story of a father and two sons, wherein the younger wayward son returns home after squandering his fortune and violating the basic religious laws of his household, and asks to be accepted by his father. The older son wants his brother to be cast out, but the father chooses to embrace and forgive him.
Below, in a mix of text and video, is Salit’s short play, titled “Bernie, the Prodigal Son.”
Bernie, the Prodigal Son
Cast of Characters
Barack Obama
Bernie Sanders
Hillary Clinton
Advisor to Barack Obama
Scene 1
STAGE NOTES: Bernie Sanders and Advisor to Barack Obama are on stage, with a wall between them. They are on the phone speaking with one another.
ADVISOR: You’re asking me for a lot here, Bernie. I mean, you come out of left field, literally, and you have an agenda, and it could be very, very disruptive, just when we’re looking—the Party is looking—to get unified, to get positioned behind Hillary and to hold the
BERNIE: Yes, David, I get all that, of course, I do. But tell me, do you really think, do you really feel that coronating a candidate eight months before the convention is going to be healthy for the Party, for
DAVID: That’s my concern, Bernie. The health of the party and our ability to lead this country and get the control of Congress back into our hands. Have you taken a look at the Republican field? For Chrissakes, Bernie, we can slaughter them, any one of them, but only if we stick together. And, look, it is Hillary’s time. She waited eight years for this. Patiently. Played by the rules. Played for the team.
BERNIE: I’m only asking for one thing, one simple thing from the President. I am asking only for what is rightfully mine. I have served in the Senate for 30 years, I have voted with the Party caucus for that entire time. All I ask is that the President give me what I am due. The right to run, to speak my mind, to deliver my message, at the time and in the way that I choose.
DAVID: You’re asking for a lot, more than you deserve, way more, Bernie. Don’t forget, your idea of socialism is a pipe dream here in the US of A, and we’re not going to let you take us down with that. But I will speak with the President and get back to you.
BERNIE: Thank you, David. I appreciate it.
Scene 2
STAGE NOTES: Same set. Advisor and Obama are on the phone speaking to each
DAVID: You heard me. He wants to run. He’s going to run. And he wants you to not endorse any candidate until he is done.
OBAMA: Is he out of his ever-loving mind?
DAVID: Mr. President, due respect, isn’t that a prerequisite for
OBAMA: Don’t be funny, David, this isn’t a joke. What am I supposed to do here? If I say no to him, I look like an authoritarian party boss. Not the image I’m going for, especially since my popularity ratings are good. But look, I’ll take the high ground here. No one is going to support his crackpot candidacy anyway, it will die a natural death. He can have what he’s asking for. No endorsement. Tell him to use it wisely, though.
Scene 3
STAGE NOTES: Video montage of news clips covering the campaign. Bernie rising in the polls. Bernie rallies. Bernie criticizing Hillary. The system is rigged and she’s a part of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLWVI-p2NR4
Scene 4
STAGE NOTES: Same set. Same set up. Advisor and Hillary on the phone.
HILLARY: What the hell, David. Why don’t you tell me where this is going? What a lowlife this guy turned out to be! Now he’s talking about how much foreign money has gone to the Clinton Global
DAVID: Look, nobody knew he would sink this low. Or go this far.
HILLARY: You look, David, I’ve got the delegates, I’ve got a lock on the nomination, I’m breaking the glass ceiling, and I don’t want any 75 year-old political revolutionary getting in the way of that, do you hear? I want him out. Done. Period. He’s off the reservation.
Scene 5
STAGE NOTES: Same set. Same set up. Obama and Advisor.
DAVID: Mr. President, Bernie has asked for a meeting.
DAVID: Yes. California’s over, Hillary’s got it. It’s done. He wants to thank you for what you gave him. And he’s ready to come home.
OBAMA: Set it up. We’ll walk through the Rose Garden together. Let the cameras grab some shots of us walking and talking. Hillary
won’t like it, but she’ll get the point. Best for everyone if we bring him
Scene 6
STAGE NOTES: Video of the walk through the Rose Garden, Obama and Sanders talking and laughing together
Scene 7
STAGE NOTES: Hillary and Advisor on the phone.
ADVISOR: Did you see the footage?
HILLARY: Oh, yes. The return of the Prodigal Son. So be it.
