The Philosopher's Stone

by Arthur Danin Adler

Play and Screenplay

A very old Jewish man, a life-long tinkerer, now slipping into the fog of dementia, discovers the Alchemist's Secret of the Ages — a way to convert ordinary lead into gold.

Fearful of his mean-spirited daughter and her low-life husband, he convinces his friend of 50 years to deliver his discovery to the only person he believes will know what to do with it... The Pope! The very old friend undertakes a journey of adventure, danger and even romance with a young woman who believes she is the reincarnation of a suicidal poet. Together they fend off the clutches of the CIA, the Israeli Mossad, and terrorist agents of the Debeers Diamond syndicate. Miraculously, they connive an audience with the Pope.

After long deliberation, he tells them:
"Destroy it!"

They do... but not quite.