Copyright (c) 2026: Charles Daniel Jewell

JFK: Light the World:

Sample Excerpts from the Play

1. 

From the Prologue: Processional and Invocation

Male Leader of Chorus

Almighty God of the Universe and all dimensions,

God of whatever is more and whatever is less,

God of all beings and all consciousnesses --

We lift our arms to you in supplication….

Female Leader of Chorus

We surrender to your power, submit to your wisdom and accept your judgement

As we make this humble request:

Male Leader of Chorus

Please bless our endeavor to honor the memory of a beloved man,

John F. Kennedy,

And through that remembrance

Help us rise above our deep partisan divisions

To be united as Americans again….

(Kennedy photo portrait from Warren Commission Files projected on large flat screen.)

Female Leader of Chorus

We shall remember his heroic life

And his memory’s continuing rebirth.

We shall remember our hard grief,

And our righteous anger,

We shall remember

The terrible aftermath... 

We shall remember all this and more

As our journey takes us

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought

And into the vast, archetypal

Sea of Myth.

2.

From Part One: JFK’s Speeches and Deeds 

Female Leader of Chorus

Now, when the center cannot hold,

When Hope has been betrayed,

And Love sacrificed,

Now when vendetta and hatred prevail,

Now when most of the old heroic voices

Are only echoes from far distant hills 

All Actors as Chorus

Now when most of the old heroic voices

Are only echoes from far distant hills…

Male Leader of Chorus

We return to the beginning point of this Tragic Cycle of American History

As we remember the life and times of John F. Kennedy,

The 35th President of the United States…

We remember his military service, and his Presidency,

What he said, what he did.

From Part Two: JFK’s Speeches and Deeds

Female Leader of Chorus

Now hear President Kennedy’s wisdom from his inaugural and other speeches.

Now hear again of his wartime heroism and his courageous political actions.

(Chorus Leaders return to their levels. All six Actors come to center stage.)

...

“Let the word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed….”

Male Actor One

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure survival and the success of liberty." 

Male Actor Three

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

From Part Three: Atomic Fear and Trembling 

Male Leader of Chorus

…Old Ike, as he was sometimes called,

Warned us in his farewell speech

About the internal threat of

What he labeled

A growing “Military Complex.”

(Projected photo of Dwight Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States.) 

Male Actor Two

He said, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.” 

Female Leader of Chorus

We did not fully understand this warning.

We did not connect it to President Kennedy’s assassination –

At least not then...

Male Leader of Chorus

Somewhere in the gloom

On that cold November night,

A small lamp was switched on. 

Female Actor Three:

Outside, the darkness was as thick and crimson dark

As Christ’s crucified blood,

And the season’s last dead leaves

Quivered in the night wind.

In another room, the screen flickered, glowed,

And the images, the voices, the questions

Were spun into a primal, wordless fear…

(AI generated image of raven in snow projected on big flat screen.)

Song: “The End of November, Nineteen Sixty-three”

Male Vocalist

(Original copyrighted lyrics and melody.)

Darkness falls as the sun goes down,

Dead trees cling to the icy ground,

The black raven bird makes no sound,

The gyre is turning, it’s almost wound.

It’s the end of November, in the year…

Nineteen…sixty-three…

From end of Epilogue and end of play: The Myth Makers

Male Leader of Chorus

He was cut down in his youthful prime—

But his spirit is a light in the darkness…

And the images of him that remain

Keep him forever young in our Memory,

In our History,

And in our National Story.  

Male Actor One

(The Actors and Leaders stop holding hands and Actor One steps forward as Herald.)

Hear ye! Hear ye! Remember his words again:

Male Leader of Chorus

“United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do – for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder....” 

Male Leader of Chorus

(He opens his arms wide in a invitation and speaks with energy and passion)

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.

“Let us not seek to fix blame for the past.

“Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”

 

Female Leader of Chorus

(She too opens her arms)

“Ask not what your country can do for you – Ask what you can do for your country?”

Together, what can we do for our country? And “together, what can we do for the freedom of man?”

 

Both Leaders of the Chorus and All Actors

(Pleading, with emotion)

Together, what can we do for our country?

And “together, what can we do for the freedom of man?”

 

(Music begins immediately for the final, shorter rendition of “The Golden Cup,” which as the theme of the play appears several times. The melody is “Londonderry Air” better known as “Danny Boy.”) 

Song: “The Golden Cup”

Female Vocalist

You dreamed new dreams that made the gray world glow,

You told us we could reach the silver moon,

That Camelot was meant to be our earthly home,

But the golden cup was shattered that black day.

(Song ends. Lights slowly fade out. The image of JFK on the large screen is the last to fade.) 

End of Play