Elliot Baker's short play, "The Past Is Not Past" was first performed as part of the "Kiss the Ground" exhibitionÑa six part series that examines and celebrates contemporary Armenian art, one hundred years after the 1915 Armenian Genocide. "The Past Is Not Past" is the 2nd book of 7 in the Kiss the Ground publication series.
ÒTHE PAST IS NOT PASTÓ is initially set in 1950 in Watertown, Massachusetts.
A couple who survived the 1915 Armenian Genocide conceals their ÒsecretÓ from their fifteen year old son. The mother suffers from nightmares; the father from anxieties. In playing checkers with his father, the boy touches a checker but does not move it. The father rages because the child did not think ahead, something that still could be dangerous even in this world. His outburst prompts the mother to reveal and relive the horrors of Òthe long march.Ó The boy vows to never forget.