William Borden
HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

Finalist, The Curan Repertory Company’s Notes From The Underground Festival, New York, NY

HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

In this present-day humorous and provocative back-and-forth between a smart-aleck teenager and a man who seems to be Jesus, uncommon views and an unexpected theology emerge. Stimulating and thought-provoking for the open-minded, no doubt offensive to the closed-minded. 1 teenager, m or f, 1 m. 30 min.


From the beginning...

(MAN sits on a park bench. KID stands before him. MAN'S hair is trimmed. He need not have a beard, but if he does, it's short and neatly trimmed. He has an easy, relaxed manner—he's seen it all, nothing surprises him. KID is dressed casually, in the current fashion.)


CURIOUS KID
Is it really you?

MAN
Well, there's trouble in River City.

CURIOUS KID
This isn't River City.

MAN
It's a metaphor, kid. River City can be anywhere.

CURIOUS KID
Why didn't you say that?

MAN
Well, you know, I like parables, the indirect approach.

CURIOUS KID
Parables are confusing.

MAN
They make you think.

CURIOUS KID
They're open to interpretation.

MAN
There you go! People have to think!

CURIOUS KID
But then they say their interpretation is the only true interpretation.

MAN
Damn.

CURIOUS KID
You didn't know that?

MAN
I had a vague impression.

CURIOUS KID
You're supposed to know everything.

MAN
I do! I do. Some things are a little hazy, that's all. Everything—that's a lot to keep track of. Besides, that's more the old man's job, knowing everything.

CURIOUS KID
What's your job?

MAN
I'm retired.

CURIOUS KID
You don't look that old.

MAN
I'm two thousand years old, give or take a few. Well, from another point of view, I'm still 33. And, from still another point of view, I'm ageless.

CURIOUS KID
Which is it?

MAN
It depends on your point of view.

CURIOUS KID
Why are you here? Why now?

MAN
Somebody needs to straighten things out.

Selected Works

FULL-LENGTH PLAYS
DON'T DANCE ME OUTSIDE
Butch, a novelist, and Ardis, an architect, begin an affair. They reveal their pasts, fantasize their future, call their spouses, fight, risk, and love.
MANY WORLDS
Maggie has to tell Axel that she has terminal cancer, as Axel explains the "Many Worlds" theory of quantum physics, and from time to time "other worlds" open up, some involving Maggie's husband.
TAP DANCING ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
A college professor who wants to run away from home gets his chance when he and his wife are visited by a would-be shaman, a runaway mother, and a hippy.
MEET AGAIN
A romantic comedy that takes a playful, sexy look at reincarnation. "Insightful and delightfully wacky," Jason Fogelson, New York Shakespeare Festival.
GOURMET LOVE
How long can Sally and Arnie keep their affair from their spouses, who are having an affair of their own?
BLUEST REASON
Lewis and Clark air their conflicts and hire a pregnant guide.
TEN-MINUTE PLAYS
GUNNING FOR LIFE
An old man's lust for life confronts his terminal cancer in an unusual comedy with a poignant ending.
DUET FOR VIRTUAL PARTICLES
A man wonders if he's an alien. A woman wonders if she's too tall.
DIRTY LAUNDRY
A woman wearing only a raincoat gives a would-be writer something to write about.
QUARKS
A man and a woman meet at a singles bar. His "Take off your panties," gets unexpected results.
SOMETHING LIGHTER
A couple finalize their divorce. Or do they?
THE BLUES STREET JAZZ CLUB REHEARSES
The loves of five would-be musicians intertwine like strands of music, improvised and unpredictable.
LUNCH
Should Bob and Bella tell their spouses they know their spouses are having an affair?
RECOGNITION
Two high school sweethearts, with their spouses, meet for lunch after 25 years.
HANGMAN
A condemned man must build his own gallows. He helps his executioner write a poem.
ONE EVENING IN PRAGUE
Albert Einstein, an up-and-coming physicist, meets Franz Kafka, a little-known author, .
FALLING
The thoughts of a Jew and a Muslim who fell from the World Trade Center the morning of September 11, 2001.
MUSE
Cal, plagued by writer's block, calls for a muse. He gets Ron.
THAT GUY FROM THE BERGMAN FILM
It may be Cassy's last day, but she hasn't lost her sense of humor as her family gathers around.
THE ALIEN HYPOTHESIS
If Larry is an alien, as he suspects, why haven't the aliens told him?
JUMPING
A man and a woman rejected by love fall in love before one jumps into the ice-covered Mississippi and the other jumps into the praxis of politics.
LEDGE
Mary could jump and end it all if Tom, who also wants to jump, would get out of her way.
ONE-ACT PLAYS
GARAGE SALE
Warren's starting over. He's selling everything.
PATRIOTS
Two men talking--terrorists or undercover agents?
I WANT TO BE AN INDIAN
A white liberal who wants to be an Indian gets his chance.
APPLES
A deconstructed Garden of Eden where Adam finds Lilith, and Eve and Satan reach an understanding.
COCKTAILS, DINNER
Should Sally and Arnie tell their spouses about their affair? Or will it spoil dinner?
IT'S SO WOWOO
Larry wonders if he's an alien. If he is an alien, why haven't the other aliens told him?
HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW
A teenager wonders if a homeless man is really Jesus.
AFFAIRS OF RECKLESS HONOR
Six women re-enact the duels of an earlier age

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