There’s an old Rabbinic saying that in every generation we are Adam and Eve in Eden, able to begin again. Considering the current state of global affairs, we can certainly take heart that, like the original couple, we too can survive the Fall with grace and optimism. No less an inspiration than the American master of humor himself, Mark Twain, has provided us with a life lesson worth heeding.

The two-character play drawn from Mark Twain’s Diaries of Adam and Eve is now on stage at the Vineyard Playhouse.

Caroline Hunter opens up a binder densely packed with years of newspaper clippings, decades-old photos, letters and other paper mementos. Beside her is a stack of books marked with dozens of blue Post-it notes. The meticulous bookkeeping is not a hobby. And though the man to whom these records pertain is Caroline’s late husband, Ken Williams, this scrapbook filled with Ken’s work, and articles and books mentioning him, is not a memorial: for Caroline, it is a civic responsibility.

In the opening scene of The One Percent, an 80-minute expose of the wealthiest Americans, three croquet players clad all in white are filmed through the bushes of an undisclosed course. Director Jamie Johnson shot the trio on the condition that their whereabouts would not be revealed, lest the plebes discover where the leisure class put their mallets. The faces are blurred, but the sounds on the course are all audible. The brightly colored balls clink as they meet on the manicured lawn and a lady tsk-tsks as she learns the young man behind the camera has never played before.