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[0:05] Iyvon Edebiri: Hello everyone. Welcome to The Parsnip Ship. I'm Iyvon Edebiri, and tonight is the third episode, um, or actually the eighth episode of season five. We are excited to be featuring playwrights who are female, trans, and non-binary this season and bringing their dynamic stories to you and your ears. We are recording tonight's reading at the Mark O'Donnell Theater at the Entertainment Community Fund Art Center in downtown Brooklyn. Thank you for hosting us and supporting The Parsnip Ship. Tonight we are hearing the mystical play, An Eco-Fable: A Wolf, Rabbit, Crow, and PLANT GIVE IT THEIR ALL by Robin Rice, directed by Melinda Hall, and we have the very talented Pamela Jean Agalo as our musician tonight. I have Robin up here with me to get things going tonight with a question. We like to start our recordings with a question. Uh, and it's what would the world be missing if it didn't have this play, Robin?

[1:18] Robin Rice: That's giving me a big responsibility. Um, I think the main thing the world would be missing is the opportunity to see climate change, to see what's happening through eyes that are not human, but are also in creatures who are being very, very affected by what's happening. So a different point of view.

[1:50] Iyvon Edebiri: I love that. Thank you. Okay, so with that, let's get started with our first song of the evening. Welcome, Pamela Jean.

[2:35] ♪ Musical number: "Witch Hazel" — performed by Pamela Jean Agalo ♪

[5:57] Renee Flemings: Hi, my name is Renee Flemings. I'll be playing Blue Ice Glacier.

[6:02] Marcie Henderson: I'm Marcie Henderson and I am Solo Crow.

[6:06] Pamela Karp: I'm Pamela Karp and I am Mother Wolf.

[6:09] Aaron Banes: I'm Aaron Banes and I'm playing Randy Rabbit.

[6:13] Yuriko Miyake: I'm Yuriko Miyake, playing Clem Clematis.

[6:16] Pamela Jean Agaloos: I am Pamela Jean Agalo, reading stage directions and sound effects. On guitar tonight is Matt Diaz.

[6:28] Iyvon Edebiri: An Eco-Fable: A Wolf, Rabbit, Crow, and PLANT GIVE IT THEIR ALL by Robin Rice.

[6:37] Scene one.

[6:39] An almost barren valley in the far north. It is early morning. We see Blue Clem, Mother, and Randy.

[6:55] Blue Ice Glacier: Are you kidding? Icicles are melting. I'm melting. My dignity is melting. Everything is melting. No more icicle chimes, if you please. No, no, no. I'm not fine. I'm an alpine glacier, an ancient river of ice. Me melting is not fine. Nobody's fine. Wolves weren't fine here either. I miss them. I miss forming slowly between these mountains back when more snow fell in the valley than melted. I miss growing deep and wide, strong and beautiful. Oh, I miss those centuries. Now there's nothing but scrub to look at in the valley. Rocks left by an ice age ancestor. Patch of sickly stems, big vine turning brown. There's an angry yellow-green streak in the sky. Carbon dioxide cutting the air like a knife. Mid morning, and already it's unnaturally hot. Greenhouse gases encourage the sun. They shout, give 'em hell! Who needs earth? Burn it to a crisp. Lucky wolves have legs to escape what's happening.

[8:29] Mother Wolf: Mother Wolf is back. Home. I'm home. What happened? You're ragged, exhausted, limping. Don't you hear me? My family, where are you?

[8:45] Blue Ice Glacier: Once upon a time today, there's nobody here but me.

[8:50] Mother Wolf: And me?

[8:51] Blue Ice Glacier: The glacier?

[8:53] Clematis Vine: Who? Over here. Up here. The Clematis Vine.

[8:57] Mother Wolf: I give up. I guess they don't think glaciers have anything to say that's worth listening to.

[9:03] Clematis Vine: I'm Clem, the flower on the vine.

[9:07] Mother Wolf: I don't see a flower.

[9:09] Clematis Vine: Yeah. Well, I'm still a bud. I'll bloom when it rains. If it ever rains again.

[9:17] Mother Wolf: Why doesn't my family answer?

[9:19] Blue Ice Glacier: You've been gone five years. Where is the silver pack?

[9:23] Clematis Vine: No wolves in homeland no more.

[9:26] Mother Wolf: I don't believe it.

[9:27] Clematis Vine: Somebody should tell her plants don't lie. We plants know what's what. We observe, store what we see in our roots, and share it with each other underground. I got stories in storage about what's gone down in the valley since forever. Ain't you heard how the moose got its antlers or how the river got braided? My favorite is why the glacier has blue ice, if anybody cares. Pretty dead underground these days. Seeds need cold moon cycles to germinate.

[10:08] Mother Wolf: Did hunters kill my family?

[10:10] Clematis Vine: Nah, they cut out.

[10:12] Mother Wolf: Which way?

[10:13] Clematis Vine: North.

[10:14] Mother Wolf: The north woods?

[10:15] Clematis Vine: Way past. Way, way past. I know, because I can see long distances. That could be useful, if anybody cares.

[10:27] Mother Wolf: Nice to meet you, Clem. Hope you flower. Gotta go find my family.

[10:31] Clematis Vine: Ah!

[10:31] Mother Wolf: Oh! What's that with your leg?

[10:34] Clematis Vine: Nothing.

[10:35] Mother Wolf: Humans shot you.

[10:38] Clematis Vine: I'll rest till I get my strength back.

[10:41] Blue Ice Glacier: Woo! Dingle. Root hairs vibrating under the permafrost.

[10:46] Clematis Vine: Your roots?

[10:47] Blue Ice Glacier: Roots touching mine. There's no other plants, just those stems.

[10:52] Clematis Vine: Shh. A new story's coming through the roots. Please, please, please make it be about long growing seasons. Warm blooming months. Dark resting months.

[11:06] Blue Ice Glacier: Nothing. My imagination. They're there. The roots of trees that were my neighbors. Bushes, flowers, other vines. Their roots touch mine, but they ain't telling stories. Too busy trying to stay alive.

[11:34] Mother Wolf: Are you all right?

[11:35] Clematis Vine: Freaking sun.

[11:37] Blue Ice Glacier: It is awfully hot.

[11:39] Clematis Vine: Freaking clogged roots the matter. Something stinks.

[11:44] Blue Ice Glacier: Yeah. Dead fish by the river.

[11:48] Clematis Vine: I smell dead hell a bit.

[11:50] Blue Ice Glacier: Salmon. Oh, the tundra doesn't smell anywhere near as thick as it used to be. No offense, but your vine looks sick.

[11:59] Clematis Vine: Those stems over there look even sicker. Am I relegated to being a silent witness? Are they right not to listen to me? After all, what can I do? Melt? Melt more? Melt until I disappear. Passively die as my lower border turns to water and flows away. Please, somebody take notice and do something before it's too late.

[12:28] Blue Ice Glacier: The wind says Mother Wolf must not leave homeland again.

[12:36] Mother Wolf: But I have to find my family.

[12:38] Clematis Vine: Ooh. What did it say?

[12:42] Blue Ice Glacier: A wolf, a rabbit, and a crow walk into tomorrow.

[12:48] Clematis Vine: What's that mean?

[12:50] Blue Ice Glacier: It's a device. What do we do?

[12:54] Clematis Vine: Then the wind doesn't answer questions.

[12:57] Blue Ice Glacier: Ooh. It said, places to go, things to blow.

[13:06] Mother Wolf: What rabbit?

[13:08] Clematis Vine: What crow?

[13:13] Blue Ice Glacier: It said, you're on your own. The future won't be happy without my family. Make homeland a good place to live again, and they'll be back.

[13:26] Mother Wolf: I smell a rabbit. It's on the story begins. The happily ever after is not inevitable. Here it comes.

[13:34] Clematis Vine: Not hopping. Scuffling. Long ears drooping.

[13:40] Mother Wolf: Once upon a time, a rabbit had a face like a wet weekend.

[13:46] Clematis Vine: Huh?

[13:47] Mother Wolf: Stems.

[13:48] Clematis Vine: Whatever.

[13:49] Mother Wolf: I don't know. Mommy says, eat your greens, laddie.

[13:53] Clematis Vine: More yellowy than green, but okay, mommy. I'm your good boy. I'll eat one stem.

[13:58] Mother Wolf: Don't.

[14:01] Clematis Vine: You were oddly easy to catch.

[14:03] Mother Wolf: I'm depressed. I wasn't paying attention. Let me go. Let me smell the stem. Help me, help me. Mommy, daddy. Mean old wolf has got your laddie.

[14:14] Clematis Vine: What are you?

[14:16] Mother Wolf: Oh, a polar bear?

[14:18] Clematis Vine: Try again.

[14:19] Mother Wolf: Oh, killer whale!

[14:24] Clematis Vine: Your ears are longer than a snowshoe hare, your feet shorter. Do you turn white to match the snow in winter?

[14:31] Mother Wolf: No snow here. Since when?

[14:34] Randy: Not supposed to talk to strangers. Let me have the stem. Mine. Okay. Thank you. Wolf taking things from poor teenage Jack Rabbit. Jack Rabbits don't live in Homeland. We do now. Poor orphan Jack Rabbit. I pretend mommy and daddy are alive, so I don't feel so bad. Carry on, Laddie. Those were their last words. How can I carry on? A wolf grabbed me, took my snack, won't let me go, and I don't have a mate. All rabbits have mates. It's what you're known for. Don't have fleas. Don't have stinky breath. But I'm a zero with girl bunnies. Keep that up and snot will freeze your whiskers. It's too hot. Nothing freezes anymore. Stop wiggling. Nasty, nasty wolfy habit. Chowing down an orphan rabbit. If I was going to eat you, I'd have done so by now.

Nothing's ever solved by arguing. They have to get along. I'll be all black and bluey blue if you don't let me skittily do. Important things we have to do. Me and you. What's your name? Hmm. Randy. We'll work together and you're a wolf. Calm down. Listen to the birds. What birds? Swallows. Chickadees. Wrens. Nope. Nope. Nope. By the river? Listening? Nope. Wait. There's one real far away. I don't hear it. I have superior ears. Well, that may come in handy. Can I have my snack back? It's bee plant. I'll eat her instead. Keep him off me. There's only that one bud, Randy. Don't eat it if it's the last one. It's not polite. Among other things, we need continuation of species for a happy ending. But she looks yummy.

They. I'm a bae. I reproduce by seed and vegetative methods. Duh. You're a boy and a girl. Wanna make something of it? The bee plant stem smells like gasoline. Gimme! Did your parents eat this? Yeah. What does that tell you? Don't eat things that smell like gasoline. What a neat wit. Tummy ache. Oh, let me rub it. Does that help? Don't stop. Are there more jackrabbits? In tunnels. You better warn them about bee plants. Okay, let me go. Let me hold you one more minute. Do you got babies? Five. Their eyes were barely open when I saw them last. My sons will have packs of their own by now. That's nice. My daughter will stay with the silver pack. Now can you let me go? Not yet? Okay. Is she strong like her father?

Noble like my sister. Does she have special fondness for the lookout over the bend in the river? I don't know. My mate is a fine leader, but he doesn't notice light in icicles or minnows dancing across reeds, or snowflakes dancing across the moon. These are things a mother will share with her daughter. If she's around to do it. If there's minnows or reeds or any of that left at all. When my daughter comes home, our eyes will meet. We'll lower our front legs and touch noses. Then we'll lope across the meadow, shoulder to shoulder. At night, we'll climb to the lookout and watch the Aurora Borealis. What's that? Northern lights. What's that? The northern lights are gone too. That settles it. We are going to put Homeland back the way it used to be, the way it should be.

With my excellent sense of smell and your extraordinary hearing, we can do it. But we need reinforcements. A crow. No, no, no, crow. We can't wait. Call the other rabbits. They won't call them. Come on out, but don't eat bee plants. Come out, cause the wolf wants your help. Should have not said wolf. They're not answering. If you'd listen to me, I'd tell you they moved north before noon. When then it's up to us then. You're good at rhymes, Randy. We'll start with birds. Compose a song that will bring back the birds. I gotta be inspired. Don't eat me. Why would I eat you? I need you. Animal promise. Animal promise. Friendly agreement. Unbreakable bond. Animal promise is one huge step in the right direction.

Mother and Randy execute the animal promise, stamping feet four times, whooshing paws against each other's paws three times, three clack clack sounds, finally four more stamps of their feet. Song for birds. Gong long wrong King Kong. Birds. Herds, words, nerds, turds. I see a cloud of silver blue. Spring is here. So where are you? We miss your chirps. We miss your song. Without you, such a lot is wrong. They're too far away. Sing louder. We miss you, birdies, miss you lots. We miss you, caribou and fox. A herd of or two of moose's aces. Even grizzlies have their places. There's no moose or caribou. Not in Homeland. No fox or bear? Sadly, not any longer. Distant rumble of an avalanche. Not again.

There goes another big hunk of ice. An avalanche? Happens every day. Every day. One or a few. Nighttime too. Snow on the mountains doesn't melt. High noon. Glaring sun. Glaciers don't melt. Receding. Receding. Closer rumble of an avalanche. Diminishing vision. Blue Ice Glacier was much closer five years ago. Rabbits will keep track of time. Every season is is I was gonna say sublime, but I don't know what it means. It just rhymes and and and what I've been feeling is depressed and tummy achy and and you come and grab me and yucky bee plant and no birds, no even animals that that eat rabbits, but you need them for food and and the glacier is shrinking, and I'm scared. There. If if I had a mate, I'd feel better.

What good is a mate when Homeland is falling apart? Poor bunny boy, don't cry. We'll figure out why fish are dying and fix that. Then birds that eat fish will come back. Find seas, plant forget-me-nots, looping heather, find water. They'll come back. The green vapor, the chemicals in the air. Find out how to get rid of them. What about a girlfriend for me? We'll solve that too. Really? Really? I'm gonna get a girlfriend. I'm gonna get a girlfriend. Did your parents have the talk with you? What talk? The birds and the bees? Bee plant? No. What's the bees? Small flying? Z no clue. Bees are gone? Yeah, and plants need bees. Rabbits need plants. They're all linked. We're all linked. I can't help much, cause I'm 'cause I'm rooted.

Where the heck is the crow? No crow! You have to try everything. Listen! Listen to me. I could be well, I could be. If only they heard me. I could be so encouraging. Maybe humans? To help us? There's an idea. Bad idea. Sometimes I hide under a bush at the tourist building and watch them. Humans? They're weird. I knew a good man once. Cover their bodies with clothes, even if the sun's boiling. Laying in the sun to change skin color, too. Cover their feet so they don't feel the ground. Run from rain. Their sense less. Not true. When they use their senses, they work perfectly well. I've seen it happen. Some humans are well-meaning. Children, for example. Get big and get guns. Not all of them. It only takes one.

Humans have big machines, giant buildings, vehicles to carry them around. Only superior minds could come up with all those ideas. Surely they could stop what's happening to our home. It's their home too. I like how this wolf thinks. Well, fooie. Humans trash their homes. All kinds of unnecessary junk, like lawn ornaments and fences. A rabbit wouldn't trash his burrow. A bird wouldn't trash her nest. A wolf wouldn't trash her den. Humans are unnatural. They need to be educated, is all. They step on plants. Cut down trees. Explode the ground. Trap animals. Burn forest. Stuff us. Pick us. Eat us. Pickle us. Shoot us. Down. Get down. What what? Why? Did you hear a gun? Not me. Me neither. Did humans shoot your leg, Mother Wolf?

It makes me scared to see her scared. Never mind me. Are we going to stop this devastation or are we gonna do nothing and die? If I don't have a girlfriend, I don't care. Stuff that rabbit neck in a burrow. He is no help at all. Is your stomach still upset? Kinda. Tea leaf willow is good for that. Hope I can find it. Hope it's still there. Come on. Then we'll get to work. It's the opposite direction. What's the use? Distant snowmobiles zoom and zigzag. No. Oh great. Snowmobiles on the mountains again. On me too. Knock it off, you dambo. Snow clouds and this awful sun makes snowpack layers weak. Get out of here! Watch out for corners break off! Mother Wolf thinks you humans can help with what's ruined Homeland.

Fat chance, I say, you don't give a fig. Oh, here it comes. Deep slab release. You're not gonna be around much longer because you're jerks. Huge crash of a deep slab release. Snowmobile zooming cuts off. Ha ha ha ha! Bye bye, jerks. Should've put on your thinking caps. That was unfortunate for the snowmobilers. Scene two, the Valley Noon. The sun's shooting death rays, but still, I single times. Makes as much sense as it makes no sense. Hey, Skye. Back off on the overload of photosynthesis. Maybe my mind is melting along with the rest of me. Six hours of sun this time of year is bonkers. If I had hair to tear out, if if I could throw up, if I could do anything but recede if I could. Hey, little white cloud.

The ground's so dry it's cracking around my roots. How about calling your dark cloud buddies? For some shade. Welcome back, Mother Wolf. Did you find that love tea leaf willow? I'd prefer a juicy moose. What is Wolf doing? I can't see as well as before. Is she rolling rocks into a row? Blah blah blah blah blah. Spinning in circles like that, he's gonna fall down. It's too hot for twirling, Randy. Woo! Woo! Dizzy cakes! I'm calling this meeting to order. All presents. Here. Here too. If anyone cares. You should sit down, Mother Wolf. You're limping real bad. No time for resting. She's lined up rocks near the vine. I wonder why. Listen up. Before we weren't organized nearly enough for this tremendous undertaking, these rocks will be our to-do list.

Let me get two more. I'll do it. Your leg hurts. Not two, three. Thank you, Randy. Who's artistic? Me. I'll find a stick for you to draw on the rocks with. One rock will be for fish dying. Draw a fish symbol on it. Two is birds leaving. It needs a bird symbol. No problem. Three is plants. Self-portrait. Four is food. Carrot. Five. Me? Weather. Bigger. No. Climate. Yes! I'll put a raindrop symbol. Six. That horrible green vapor.

[29:07] Randy: I'm trying not to think about this thing. But it's like a growing thing that's getting so massive. If I don't have a girlfriend pretty soon, it's gonna, uh, I don't know. I promise to help and I want to, but boy, this thing is getting bigger in my brain, which is gonna explode from thinking so hard about it. I really, really need a mate. Or at least a little date. A mate for Randy. I love you, Mother Wolf.

[29:39] Clematis Vine: Girl rabbit symbol.

[29:41] Mother Wolf: Symbolic for the procreation of all species.

[29:44] Clematis Vine: Excellent.

[29:46] Mother Wolf: Seven rocks, seven mountains to climb.

[29:49] Mother Wolf: Thinking, thinking in a stew.

[29:51] Mother Wolf: Where to start and what to do.

[29:53] Mother Wolf: To turn things round so I can grow.

[29:56] Mother Wolf: I'm telling you, we need a crow.

[29:59] Aaron Banes: Stop bringing up crows.

[30:01] Mother Wolf: A wolf, a rabbit and a crow.

[30:03] Mother Wolf: And a plant plant.

[30:08] Clematis Vine: Somebody should tell him you never win in an argument with a plant.

[30:13] Clematis Vine: I want pure air as much as you. I want rain when there should be rain. Snow when there should be snow. Seasons like they're supposed to be. Every one of my six petals is squeezed tight, shrinking from this blistering sun. They cry for even a drop of dew.

[30:41] Clematis Vine: We can't walk to where there's shade or hop to the river for a dip. We can't fly to melting ice at the edge of the glacier. I'm stuck here, listening to dying roots of distant relatives. Think I don't want to talk bottom flower talk with other buds and flowers? Think I'm not lonely? I'm lonely as flipping hell. Think I wouldn't give anything to help make this mess right so I can breathe and bloom. Instead, I'm stuck here listening to the dying roots of distant relatives.

[31:33] Clematis Vine: Think I like all of a sudden making loud sounds to clear my stomata? The sounds are like how things are ugly. Crashing round with no meanings. I'm losing control. Plants value control more than anyone realizes. Root stories sum up what has happened. We're concerned with what's happening now. Now sucks. Speaking of socking, I can't freaking. I'm trying and trying to suck water up from the ground through my stem, but all that comes up is dust.

[32:19] Randy: Suck harder. What if there is no more water? Suck like this. There is something. Suck. Almost suck. Almost suck. Got it. Yay! Only three drops. But that was the most delicious three drops in the world.

[33:02] Clematis Vine: Still no other flowers. There will be. I didn't open. You will. You'll bloom and help. How? I'm rooted to this spot. All I can do is cheer you on. As the wind said, a crow can't even cheer. They sound like they got their prickers in their craws.

[33:25] Randy: How about a plant and a crow? Here's me if a crow shows up. Randy Randy, lightning grease, forget a tasty rabbit feast. They don't hunt rabbits. They like roadkill. Might have changed. Everything's changed. I'm not making friends with a crow. We need a crow attracting song, and we need it now.

[33:47] Clematis Vine: How about a girl bunny song? That inspires me. Priorities. My other bird song didn't work. If you want help with your love life. A crow, a crow if she is nice. A crow that has some good advice about what's bad for rabbit guts and all the other soup to nuts.

[34:13] Randy: Whoa. A crow. Looks dead. No blood. She opened an eye. Help! She's only stunned. How was she flying with that fishing line wrapped around her and that and that? It's a plastic six-pack ring wedged over her head and around her neck.

[34:31] Mother Wolf: Don't touch her. Stay behind me if you like. Don't don't go touch me again, you die. No, mother. I'll peck your freaking eyes out. I'm not going to hurt you. Said the carnivore to the crow. I need you.

[34:49] Crow: What do you think? I'm stupid. I won't eat you. Tell me another. I swear. Animal promise. This is a first. Well, these days, homeland is full of firsts. Huh! A wolf with half a brain. Do you want me to untangle you?

[35:07] Crow: Don't! I spy a rabbit. Rabbit? What rabbit? Don't see no rabbit. Pea brain, bully, nimkum poop. Stop it, you two. Solo. I prefer to be addressed as solo. Nobody's eating anybody until things are back to normal.

[35:25] Randy: Normal? Show me normal. Nothing's normal and never will be unless you stop ecological devastation. We intend to. Eat funny mushrooms much. Do I look like I'm joking? Get this off me.

[35:43] Mother Wolf: Relax, fuzzbutt. Make a promise not to eat me. I'd have to be starving to stoop to eating live rabbit. We'll turn things around before anybody starves. A little help here. She didn't promise. Animal promise. No eating the idiot rabbit. Will you help me puzzle out? Will you help puzzle out what to do? Get this freaking fish line off of me.

[36:12] Crow: Hold still. I'll bite it off. Watch it with those big teeth. There. You're free. Want this six-pack ring off too? Back off! Is your wing broken? I can do without the personal remarks. At least they're not fighting. Progress may happen.

[36:32] Randy: You didn't do the animal promise. Feet stamp four times, then a whoosh as paws and a wing slide across each other three times. Then clack clack. Finally, four more stamps of feet. Progress! Happy? We're very happy you're here, Solo.

[36:52] Randy: What's with the rocks? It's our to-do list. You forgot something. We don't need more rocks. In that case, ta-ta! It's been charming. Here I go. Soaring far above earthbound mangy dog and rat.

[37:08] Crow: You promised. Had my toes crossed. Malarkia, I saw your toes. They were not crossed. You can't break an animal promise. I promise not to eat you. Period. A little while ago I was saying how very much I wished a crow would join us.

[37:23] Randy: Yeah, she said that. A clematis vine. Carcinogenic? I'm not sure. Let's see. Mmm. Mmm. Toxic. Listen up. I have a theory. You have my undivided attention. Randy is all ears. Seriously. If I die before you, you have to promise to mention my theory in my eulogy.

[38:02] Mother Wolf: Nobody is going to die. Long ago, a glacier covered the land. It melted. Then another formed and melted. This cycle repeated for hundreds of thousands of years. Big glaciers and small. Freeze, burn, crack, flood. Still, storm. Live, die. All expected. All natural. Then humans showed up and royally jammed the system.

[38:36] Randy: Placing blame doesn't help. My theory is we're all going to die really soon. I don't want to die with no girlfriend. I reject your theory. We're going to unjam the system. Don't tell me. You've got hope.

[38:58] Crow: We need an eagle eye. Eagle? Eagle? My eyes are the keenest. My reflex is the swiftest. My intellect puts all others to shame. If they added an end to the inn of crow, it would spell crown. Did you notice the vapor in the sky? I notice everything.

[39:24] Mother Wolf: Exactly what we need. My sense of smell. Randy's amazing hearing and your best eyes ever. How long has the vapor been there? A while. It wasn't there five years ago. I've been away. Hey, Sky! Um, me again. How about a little precipitation to wash the creepy vapor away?

[39:47] Clematis Vine: A lot of good that does. Talking to the sky. The vapor looks deadly. It is. Let's blow it away. Brilliant. It doesn't hurt to try. You too, Clem.

[40:08] Randy: Harder. All together. One, two, blow. Did it move? Get closer. Uh stand on a rock. Blowing with all their might. That was lame. It's too far away. Doesn't bother me long as I steer clear.

[40:38] Clematis Vine: What about other birds? What other birds? She's got you there. Adios. Don't leave. You're gonna go around with a plastic six-pack thing on your neck. What do you know about fashion? Pardonne-moi. I'm a busy bird.

[40:53] Crow: Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beepy. A mouse! Out of my way! Out of my way. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Delicious. I hope it was contaminated. It's past my smell test with flying colors. Thanks for nothing.

[41:15] Randy: Are you hungry? You could have asked. I'm sorry. Sorry, doesn't fill my stomach. FYI, wolves can fast for long periods when food is scarce. I can't. I didn't realize. In addition, if that was the last living mouse, you're responsible for wiping out an entire species.

[41:38] Mother Wolf: Let her go find her own food. All she does is make trouble. This is her home, too. No, it's not. It is so. I never saw you. Proof of inferior eyesight. It's hard to distinguish from one crow from another, but I'm quite sure I remember this one.

[41:57] Crow: I suspect it's you who doesn't belong. I suspect you and your parents and hordes of Jack Rabbit relatives came here because the southern desert, where you belong, got so hot it burned your feet. So what? Thought so. I love homeland more than you.

[42:19] Randy: Do you love swaying on top of aspen trees? I would if there were trees. Do you love tunneling under tundra? I would if it was thick enough. Do you love rolling in fresh snow? Totally. I did more. I would more if there was some.

[42:40] Mother Wolf: Enough, Randy. What's so great about her? I happen to be in demand as an authority on everything. I was born on the other side of that mountain. I've never left homeland. However, I have traveled to where humans live. I have cultivated the skill of reading books and newspapers open on tables and houses by sitting quietly on sills and looking through windows.

[43:10] Crow: I know about the rest of the world, which is why I'm so valuable in addition to having the sharpest eyesight and highest IQ. You're invaluable. I don't believe she can read. Argue, argue, argue. Wanna get something done? Quit arguing.

[43:40] Crow: Like you know so much about humans.

[43:42] Crow: I wouldn't lure myself to picking your bones if you were the last rotting carcass on earth.

[43:48] Crow: Nobody likes it, no, it all.

[43:50] Crow: This is terrible.

[43:51] Crow: My friends, my acquaintances, my many admirers.

[43:56] Crow: I bet other crows don't even like you.

[43:58] Crow: They left to get away from you.

[44:01] Crow: You empty-headed hippity hop.

[44:03] Randy: No zing, that hurt.

[44:05] Crow: Imbecile, skinny, unpopular crowd that can't fly.

[44:08] Mother Wolf: Her wing is broken.

[44:09] Crow: Truth!

[44:10] Crow: This is going from bad to worse.

[44:13] Mother Wolf: Chill out, you guys.

[44:15] Mother Wolf: If the story goes to the dark side, we're all doomed.

[44:20] Randy: Yes!

[44:21] Mother Wolf: Listen to the plan.

[44:22] Crow: I don't care to remain with the wolf, who's so desperate for help.

[44:27] Crow: She recruits an immigrant.

[44:29] Mother Wolf: That was uncalled for.

[44:30] Crow: Tata!

[44:31] Mother Wolf: Apologize, Randy.

[44:33] Mother Wolf: She's wounded, for goodness sake.

[44:35] Mother Wolf: Tell her we all say things we don't mean when we're in pain.

[44:38] Crow: We know she has friends and admirers, and we want to know what her rock would be.

[44:44] Crow: I will pause, expecting an apology from the rabbit.

[44:51] Mother Wolf: Go on, Randy.

[44:52] Crow: He's dragging his feet.

[44:54] Crow: Don't take all day.

[44:56] Crow: Oh what?

[44:57] Crow: Skidaddle, or you'll get another paddle.

[45:00] Rabbit: Rabbit feet hopping quickly, they stop.

[45:03] Crow: We want to know what your rock is.

[45:06] Crow: Tell her.

[45:08] Rabbit: I heard what she said.

[45:10] Rabbit: Rabbit feet hopping quickly, they stop.

[45:13] Crow: She heard you.

[45:14] Crow: Tell her I'm sure she made a personal choice to not be with a flock.

[45:18] Crow: I'm not even sure crows hang out in flocks.

[45:21] Crow: Go on, don't lollygag.

[45:23] Rabbit: Rabbit feet hopping quickly, they stop.

[45:26] Rabbit: Tell her I want to be alone.

[45:28] Crow: Other crows make such a racket, I can't hear myself think.

[45:32] Rabbit: Rabbit feet hopping quickly, they stop.

[45:36] Crow: Tell her I understand great thinkers need alone time.

[45:39] Rabbit: Rabbit feet hopping quickly.

[45:41] Crow: Tell her.

[45:42] Rabbit: Rabbit feet hopping stop short.

[45:45] Crow: Who her?

[45:46] Crow: The crow.

[45:47] Rabbit: Rabbit feet hopping quickly, then stopping and reversing until they're going in circles.

[45:52] Crow: Tell the plant my name is I know your name.

[45:56] Crow: Tell her.

[45:57] Crow: Tell Sola.

[45:58] Crow: Tell the wolf.

[45:58] Rabbit: Rabbits hopping in circles.

[46:00] Crow: What?

[46:01] Crow: What?

[46:01] Crow: What?

[46:01] Rabbit: Rabbit feet skid to a halt.

[46:03] Crow: You are a piece of work.

[46:05] Crow: What are you doing?

[46:06] Crow: Cooling off.

[46:08] Crow: By spreading a wing.

[46:10] Crow: We don't slobber like Canis Lupus.

[46:13] Crow: We don't spread ridiculous ears like you.

[46:16] Crow: You don't even have ears.

[46:18] Crow: If I did, I wouldn't lay on the ground and spread them out like wet laundry.

[46:23] Crow: It's very cooling.

[46:24] Crow: It looks dumb.

[46:26] Crow: That looks dumb.

[46:28] Crow: Why do I think they're going to accomplish anything at all?

[46:32] Crow: Where are the other crows?

[46:34] Crow: You must miss them terribly.

[46:38] Crow: You said there's a problem I didn't think of.

[46:40] Crow: I can add another rock.

[46:42] Mother Wolf: What is it?

[46:44] Crow: I don't feel like talking about it.

[46:46] Crow: Let's find an owl to help us instead.

[46:49] Crow: Owls are retarded.

[46:51] Mother Wolf: That's not nice.

[46:52] Mother Wolf: It's very offensive.

[46:53] Mother Wolf: I won't stand for that kind of talk.

[46:56] Crow: Whereas so much intelligence is packed in my head, I get my grains.

[47:04] Crow: No other bird, amphibian, fish, mammal, invertebrate, or reptile is intelligent enough to get my grains.

[47:16] Crow: Mosquito, don't move.

[47:21] Crow: Undersized.

[47:23] Crow: But I'm past being picky.

[47:26] Crow: Mmm.

[47:30] Crow: What?

[47:32] Crow: Polluted.

[47:34] Crow: Did you always have migraines, or is it only since you flew near the vapor?

[47:39] Crow: You think I don't know it's deadly?

[47:41] Crow: She knows everything.

[47:44] Crow: I didn't address you.

[47:45] Mother Wolf: If we work as a team, we can solve this.

[47:48] Crow: Doubtful.

[47:49] Crow: Maybe.

[47:49] Crow: Unlikely.

[47:50] Mother Wolf: If you don't even try I will not tolerate wasting another minute squabbling.

[47:56] Crow: If the rabbit says your particular thing isn't as important as my particular thing, I'll peck him.

[48:04] Mother Wolf: Be quiet, Randy.

[48:05] Crow: Help me roll this rock into the row.

[48:08] Crow: My feathers are glossy.

[48:10] Crow: My bearing attractive.

[48:13] Crow: But my stomach is as empty as your nest.

[48:19] Crow: Empty.

[48:20] Crow: It's empty.

[48:22] Crow: Shut up.

[48:23] Randy: Randy, I may tie your ears in a knot and sit on you.

[48:26] Crow: Yeah, knock it off, rabbit.

[48:28] Crow: Rumble of a fairly close avalanche.

[48:31] Mother Wolf: Avalanche!

[48:32] Crow: Big one!

[48:33] Crow: Rain!

[48:34] Crow: We need rain!

[48:35] Crow: Not this!

[48:36] Crow: Very loud avalanche rumble!

[48:39] Crow: Flash!

[48:39] Crow: Flash!

[48:40] Crow: Flash!

[48:40] Crow: Flash!

[48:41] Crow: Great balls of four!

[48:42] Crow: Stop!

[48:43] Crow: It's sky!

[48:44] Crow: Batten down the hatches!

[48:49] Crow: Loud avalanche rumble.

[48:52] Mother Wolf: Oh, waiting for it to be over, waiting, holding my new friends, filled with anticipation and fear, like waiting for my pups to be born.

[49:00] Mother Wolf: Long months when I didn't know what the future held.

[49:03] Mother Wolf: I look forward to the day I'll lead them out of the den into the gentle sunshine of new life, but fear for their safety.

[49:10] Mother Wolf: I hold on to hope.

[49:12] Mother Wolf: I know my family wants to come home.

[49:14] Mother Wolf: I will make it so they can.

[49:16] Mother Wolf: I will.

[49:18] Crow: Rumble fades away.

[49:21] Mother Wolf: Scar on the Windwood Mountain.

[49:24] Mother Wolf: Can't look.

[49:26] Mother Wolf: Too painful.

[49:28] Mother Wolf: Sun smirks.

[49:31] Crow: See what I can do?

[49:34] Crow: All clear now.

[49:36] Crow: Innocent looking.

[49:38] Crow: The sky's so clear.

[49:40] Crow: Nothing can hide.

[49:42] Crow: Hey, Sky.

[49:45] Crow: What the heck was with the flashing?

[49:48] Sky: Heat lightning.

[49:49] Sky: Unheard of this far north.

[49:51] Sky: Previously.

[49:52] Sky: Maybe it's a sign.

[49:53] Crow: Forget signs.

[49:55] Crow: It's a fact.

[49:56] Crow: Like that plastic bag floating down.

[50:00] Crow: Zon'm move!

[50:07] Crow: Gotcha.

[50:09] Crow: Common green bottle fly.

[50:18] Crow: There's a beetle.

[50:20] Crow: Quick beetle.

[50:23] Crow: Mm.

[50:27] Crow: Contaminated.

[50:29] Crow: Did you taste bee plant?

[50:31] Crow: Gasoline.

[50:33] Crow: You have a superior palate, Solo.

[50:36] Crow: You can be our homeland taster in chief.

[50:38] Solo: Already am.

[50:39] Solo: Haven't found a non-toxic morsel since I can remember.

[50:44] Crow: Why do you think crows left?

[50:47] Crow: There's nothing to eat that won't kill us.

[50:50] Crow: Or our young even.

[50:53] Crow: Even before they're born.

[50:57] Crow: I'll taste every single damn insect and seed.

[51:02] Crow: When I find a kind that's safe, I'll call a male crow back and we'll rebuild the community.

[51:11] Mother Wolf: What happened?

[51:13] Crow: You, rabbit.

[51:15] Crow: Don't call me know it all unless it's said with reverence.

[51:20] Crow: Why did the other crows leave?

[51:22] Crow: I told you.

[51:23] Crow: Our food is frickin' toxic.

[51:29] Crow: That's not all.

[51:32] Mother Wolf: We're listening.

[51:34] Crow: We won't interrupt.

[51:36] Crow: Will we, Randy?

[51:37] Randy: I'm a clam.

[51:39] Crow: I don't know what clams are, but that's all right, good boy.

[51:44] Crow: A nest.

[51:45] Crow: High in a tall spruce.

[51:49] Crow: Tightly woven, safe in the V of two limbs, protected from the sight of marauding owls and eagles by layers of branches and needles.

[52:01] Crow: My parents are known in the community as excellent nest builders.

[52:06] Crow: This night, this one night, I sit on a nearby branch to keep lookout while Lady Crow, my mother, lays six eggs.

[52:19] Crow: As she settles in to incubate them, my keen eye spots a large garter snake lurking at the base of the tree.

[52:27] Crow: Dad sees it too.

[52:29] Crow: Lady has a logical fear of snakes.

[52:32] Crow: If it raids the nest, sir, my father quickly tempts Lady away to enjoy a last swoop around the neighborhood before settling down to sit on the eggs.

[52:44] Crow: He knows I'll protect the nest.

[52:47] Crow: The snake is halfway up the spruce before it sees me.

[52:51] Crow: It backs down.

[52:53] Crow: Smart snake.

[52:55] Crow: It's a warm day.

[52:57] Crow: No need to sit on the eggs, but I watch over them.

[53:01] Crow: Midday comes.

[53:03] Crow: What's taking sir and lady so long?

[53:07] Crow: Mid afternoon.

[53:09] Crow: What happened to them?

[53:12] Crow: I push away negative thoughts.

[53:15] Crow: Dusk.

[53:17] Crow: The air is growing too cold for the eggs.

[53:20] Crow: I do what any conscientious crow would do.

[53:24] Crow: Leave my sentry branch and sit on the nest.

[53:28] Crow: On the eggs.

[53:30] Crow: I get comfortable, nudging around so my underbelly feathers cover them well.

[53:37] Crow: The sun goes down, a loon cries.

[53:42] Crow: Then I hear it.

[53:44] Crow: A crack.

[53:46] Crow: Then another.

[53:48] Crow: Then another and another and another and another.

[53:55] Crow: I'm heavier than lady, but can it be?

[54:00] Crow: Crow eggshells are tough.

[54:03] Crow: They always were.

[54:06] Crow: Wetness on my underside.

[54:09] Crow: Trickles of slow moving wetness.

[54:14] Crow: All night I sit.

[54:18] Crow: All night I sit on six unformed babies who would have been my brothers and sisters.

[54:26] Crow: The shells were thin.

[54:29] Crow: I've heard about this happening to falcon and hawk eggs, but never because of what's contaminating insects and seeds?

[54:40] Crow: Because of what mother birds eat before they lay the eggs?

[54:44] Crow: Because of what the fathers eat.

[54:48] Crow: At sunrise I leave the nest.

[54:52] Crow: I don't look back.

[54:54] Crow: I never want to see that tall spruce again.

[54:57] Crow: Before another day passed, word spread and the other crows left from both sides of the range.

[55:04] Crow: Good riddance, I say.

[55:06] Crow: Run away, I say.

[55:09] Crow: Run away from the problem.

[55:12] Crow: But not you.

[55:14] Crow: Rock number eight.

[55:16] Crow: Thin eggshells.

[55:18] Crow: We'll go to Bridget River now.

[55:21] Crow: Scene three.

[55:22] Crow: Riverbank.

[55:27] Crow: Sun still thinks it's midday.

[55:30] Crow: Venomous vapor thicker, thicker than ever.

[55:35] Crow: Wolf rabbit and crow are at the river.

[55:38] Crow: Barely a trickle of red black water.

[55:41] Crow: Sure, a dump of small dead animals, dead fish, and trash left by humans.

[55:48] Crow: They dug holes, buried bodies, collected a pile of trash as high as well, if there were still trees, I'd say as high as a mature aspen.

[55:59] Crow: Air's very bad.

[56:02] Rabbit: Rabbit tries not to breathe.

[56:05] Mother Wolf: Wolf pants mightily.

[56:08] Crow: Crow pecks at a dead otter.

[56:13] Crow: Another one covered with oil.

[56:16] Crow: This is gross.

[56:18] Crow: I hate humans more than ever.

[56:20] Mother Wolf: Keep at it.

[56:21] Crow: Where's the other rabbits?

[56:23] Crow: Why don't they pitch in?

[56:25] Mother Wolf: They left the valley.

[56:30] Crow: Die fly.

[56:31] Crow: What is it?

[56:32] Crow: Doesn't matter.

[56:33] Crow: I'll eat anything not poison.

[56:38] Crow: Mmm.

[56:43] Crow: There's nothing.

[56:45] Crow: Ew, what's this?

[56:48] Crow: Throw it on top of the pile.

[56:50] Crow: I can't breathe dead fish air much longer.

[56:53] Mother Wolf: Breathe through your mouth.

[56:54] Crow: I gotta spread my ears.

[56:56] Crow: I don't envy you in that fur coat, mother wolf.

[56:59] Mother Wolf: Clumps are falling out.

[57:01] Crow: I try to think of it as ventilation.

[57:03] Crow: What are we gonna do with all this junk?

[57:06] Crow: Stuff it in their plastic bags and dump it on their heads.

[57:09] Mother Wolf: I'm down with that.

[57:11] Crow: High five.

[57:13] Crow: Here's a spider for you.

[57:16] Crow: Female Arabesque Orb Weaver.

[57:19] Crow: I've tasted one thousand three hundred four insect centerachnids.

[57:25] Crow: All infected.

[57:27] Mother Wolf: Let it go.

[57:28] Crow: Are you sure?

[57:29] Crow: I'm kinda hungry too.

[57:31] Crow: You got plenty of meat on you, long shanks.

[57:38] Crow: I hear something.

[57:40] Crow: Crackling and popping of a forest fire.

[57:43] Crow: Smoke.

[57:44] Crow: Across the river.

[57:46] Crow: Tree roots exploding.

[57:47] Crow: Old forest.

[57:48] Crow: Flames.

[57:49] Crow: Red, yellow.

[57:50] Crow: Sky shot through with stabs of fire.

[57:53] Mother Wolf: Run!

[57:54] Mother Wolf: Run!

[57:55] Mother Wolf: To the valley.

[57:56] Mother Wolf: Run!

[57:59] Crow: Roaring of a forest fire.

[58:02] Crow: Open clouds!

[58:03] Crow: Rain, rain, rain!

[58:06] Crow: Rain for oceans, rivers blue, rain for you, and you and you.

[58:10] Crow: Rain for fishes, rain for whales, rain for flowers, bugs, and snails.

[58:54] ♪ Musical number: "A Happy Super Duper Day" — performed by the cast ♪

[59:46] Crow: Water's rising. Flood. Flood.

[59:50] Mother Wolf: Get to high ground! Solo's gonna be washed away!

[59:51] Rabbit: Booster on a high rock!

[59:53] Crow: I'm drowning!

[59:55] Mother Wolf: Hold your head up! Uh Randy, build a dam around Clem!

[59:58] ♪ Musical number: "Clem is Blooming" — performed by the cast ♪

[1:00:27] Crow: Everybody here?

[1:00:29] Rabbit: Me.

[1:00:30] Mother Wolf: Okay.

[1:00:31] Solo: Okay.

[1:00:34] Clematis Vine: Present.

[1:00:35] Clematis Vine: Soggy as a drowned duck.

[1:00:39] Mother Wolf: But still rooted.

[1:00:41] Mother Wolf: We made it.

[1:00:42] Mother Wolf: Darkness falls like a hammer.

[1:00:45] Mother Wolf: Scene four, the valley.

[1:00:47] Mother Wolf: Late afternoon.

[1:00:52] Mother Wolf: Darkness didn't really fall like a hammer.

[1:00:55] Mother Wolf: It just felt like the earth was hit with a hammer.

[1:01:00] Mother Wolf: No darkness falling at all.

[1:01:02] Mother Wolf: Jagged crack across the land.

[1:01:05] Mother Wolf: Cruel tear through the deer mountains.

[1:01:08] Mother Wolf: I was forced to retreat further.

[1:01:11] Mother Wolf: But somehow I feel closer.

[1:01:13] Mother Wolf: The rain washed the vapor away.

[1:01:16] Mother Wolf: Northern lights now?

[1:01:17] Mother Wolf: That would be like awesome sauce.

[1:01:20] Mother Wolf: Oh, no.

[1:01:22] Mother Wolf: Not yet.

[1:01:24] Solo: Solo's all skin and bones.

[1:01:27] Mother Wolf: You're no prize winner, cotton butt.

[1:01:30] Mother Wolf: The caddy wumpus isn't over.

[1:01:32] Mother Wolf: New generations are essential.

[1:01:34] Mother Wolf: Randy needs a mate, or at least know how to attract one.

[1:01:38] Mother Wolf: Are you ready, Randy?

[1:01:39] Mother Wolf: Lesson number one.

[1:01:41] Rabbit: I want to help Solo get dry first.

[1:01:43] Rabbit: Can I help you spread out on a rock to get dry, Solo?

[1:01:46] Mother Wolf: Most thoughtful.

[1:01:47] Mother Wolf: Rest, Solo.

[1:01:48] Mother Wolf: Conserve your energy.

[1:01:50] Mother Wolf: Take care of Randy.

[1:01:52] Mother Wolf: Randy, follow Mother Wolf's advice.

[1:01:56] Mother Wolf: Whatever she says.

[1:01:58] Rabbit: Make believe I'm a girl rabbit.

[1:02:01] Mother Wolf: Huh?

[1:02:03] Rabbit: Get it in gear buzzcut.

[1:02:05] Rabbit: Just do it.

[1:02:07] Rabbit: My name is Give Me a Girl Rabbit's name.

[1:02:10] Mother Wolf: Mm.

[1:02:11] Rabbit: Ray Ann.

[1:02:12] Rabbit: She's the prettiest doe in homeland.

[1:02:16] Rabbit: Hi, Randy.

[1:02:19] Rabbit: Rayne, babe.

[1:02:20] Rabbit: You're smoking hot.

[1:02:21] Rabbit: Me myself, I'm hot to trot.

[1:02:24] Rabbit: Left and right will procreate starting now, no need to wait.

[1:02:27] Mother Wolf: Your manners stink.

[1:02:29] Rabbit: Jeez, Mother Wolf.

[1:02:31] Rabbit: Mommy and Dad always had told me, just be my lovable self.

[1:02:35] Mother Wolf: I'm not Mother Wolf, I'm Ray Ann.

[1:02:37] Mother Wolf: You need to rein in your lovable self, or I'm out of here.

[1:02:41] Rabbit: Other rabbits get to be themselves.

[1:02:43] Rabbit: Throughout the rabbit world it's known.

[1:02:46] Rabbit: March Hare oozes tosterone.

[1:02:48] Rabbit: Trix and Thumper, both are speedy.

[1:02:51] Rabbit: No Viagra, thanks, not needy.

[1:02:54] Mother Wolf: Strike two.

[1:02:55] Rabbit: Peter Rabbit's dating Sally.

[1:02:58] Rabbit: Old Jackrab is prone to dally.

[1:03:00] Rabbit: White Rabbit smokes and courts his gal, while Energizers conjugal.

[1:03:06] Mother Wolf: These are your role models?

[1:03:08] Rabbit: Breran Harvey, Velveteen.

[1:03:10] Rabbit: Love for them's a bit routine.

[1:03:12] Mother Wolf: You make the Playboy bunny look good.

[1:03:15] Rabbit: Playboy bunnies one swift hair.

[1:03:17] Rabbit: No lack of hanky panky there.

[1:03:19] Rabbit: See you later, alligator.

[1:03:21] Rabbit: Give me another chance, Ray Ann.

[1:03:23] Rabbit: Pretty please.

[1:03:24] Rabbit: Can you be more like the Easter bunny?

[1:03:28] Rabbit: Easter bunnies in demand by Lady Lops across the land.

[1:03:31] Rabbit: They're hooking up all two by two.

[1:03:34] Rabbit: Except me.

[1:03:35] Rabbit: My solitary self is blue.

[1:03:38] Rabbit: Jessica Rabbit has a Roger.

[1:03:40] Rabbit: Even Bugs, that horny codger has the sweet Cadbury bunny, leaving me alone.

[1:03:46] Mother Wolf: Not funny.

[1:03:48] Rabbit: I'm not sure I'm your type, Randy.

[1:03:51] Rabbit: I'd bring home gals I really like.

[1:03:53] Rabbit: But Ma and Pa said, take a hike.

[1:03:56] Rabbit: They're so picky.

[1:03:57] Rabbit: Golly gee, because I'm their only child, you see.

[1:04:01] Mother Wolf: Can't live on fuel injected beetles.

[1:04:04] Solo: Solo, solo.

[1:04:06] Rabbit: She went back to sleep.

[1:04:08] Mother Wolf: Well, sleep's good for her, right?

[1:04:10] Rabbit: Yes.

[1:04:11] Mother Wolf: How smooth her feathers a little.

[1:04:13] Rabbit: I'll watch solo.

[1:04:14] Rabbit: Tell Ray Ann where you looked for girlfriends.

[1:04:18] Rabbit: Lots of places.

[1:04:19] Rabbit: Like outside the tourist building.

[1:04:22] Rabbit: I'm not a narrow-minded guy.

[1:04:24] Rabbit: First a schnauzer caught my eye.

[1:04:27] Rabbit: Then a labrador.

[1:04:30] Rabbit: But she was much too young a pup.

[1:04:33] Rabbit: Loved a flower, but Pa ate it.

[1:04:36] Rabbit: Charmed a frog.

[1:04:37] Rabbit: I knew he'd hate it.

[1:04:39] Rabbit: The chickadee, my mom went none of.

[1:04:41] Rabbit: Owl and pigeon, they made fun of.

[1:04:44] Rabbit: I bought a vixen, too much tail.

[1:04:47] Rabbit: Brought a lizard, too much scale.

[1:04:49] Rabbit: Loved a cat?

[1:04:51] Rabbit: Ma was a large.

[1:04:53] Mother Wolf: Stop.

[1:04:53] Mother Wolf: Stop.

[1:04:54] Mother Wolf: You really have to stick to rabbits.

[1:04:56] Mother Wolf: Ask Ray Ann questions about herself.

[1:04:59] Mother Wolf: Get to know her.

[1:05:00] Rabbit: I'm shy.

[1:05:02] Mother Wolf: No excuse.

[1:05:03] Mother Wolf: Try again.

[1:05:04] Rabbit: Oh uh Ray Ann?

[1:05:08] Ray Ann: Yes, Randy.

[1:05:09] Rabbit: I uh I I uh I Yes, Randy.

[1:05:14] Rabbit: Do you like carrots?

[1:05:16] Ray Ann: Indeed I do, Randy.

[1:05:18] Rabbit: And and and maybe you and me you'd like maybe to go to the other side of the valley and go with me and see if if there's new carrots growing.

[1:05:28] Rabbit: New carrots that taste sweet like they used to before all the bad changes.

[1:05:33] Ray Ann: What will we do then, Randy?

[1:05:35] Rabbit: Well, then well if you want to.

[1:05:39] Rabbit: Uh I know where there's awesome tea leaf willow for dessert.

[1:05:44] Rabbit: Then we'll Careful Will Think before you speak.

[1:05:51] Ray Ann: What do you want to do, Ray Ann?

[1:05:54] Rabbit: Yes!

[1:05:55] Rabbit: I did good.

[1:05:57] Rabbit: Real good.

[1:05:58] Rabbit: Take a hint.

[1:05:59] Rabbit: Don't have 17 years, fewer flies, beetles, weevils.

[1:06:04] Ray Ann: She's sick.

[1:06:05] Rabbit: Ow!

[1:06:06] Rabbit: She pecks me.

[1:06:07] Rabbit: She doesn't know it's you.

[1:06:09] Rabbit: Move away.

[1:06:09] Rabbit: She'll fall off the rock.

[1:06:11] Mother Wolf: Time's gone by.

[1:06:13] Mother Wolf: Moon glimmered on my blue black back breast.

[1:06:16] Mother Wolf: Full knot dull shadow.

[1:06:18] Mother Wolf: Let me take that thing off your neck.

[1:06:20] Mother Wolf: Worms slither down to dark bowel.

[1:06:23] Solo: It's me, Solo.

[1:06:24] Rabbit: It's Randy.

[1:06:25] Rabbit: What's this?

[1:06:27] Rabbit: A human house?

[1:06:29] Solo: She's hallucinating.

[1:06:31] Mother Wolf: Light in the window.

[1:06:34] Mother Wolf: Girl, child in pigtails.

[1:06:37] Mother Wolf: Wide eyes.

[1:06:39] Mother Wolf: Pump cheeks.

[1:06:42] Mother Wolf: Delicate folds at neck and knee.

[1:06:46] Mother Wolf: Come closer, sweetheart.

[1:06:49] Mother Wolf: Open the window.

[1:06:52] Mother Wolf: She comes.

[1:06:54] Mother Wolf: Good girl.

[1:06:55] Mother Wolf: Turns away.

[1:06:57] Mother Wolf: Come.

[1:06:59] Mother Wolf: Don't shut me out.

[1:07:02] Mother Wolf: She turns.

[1:07:04] Mother Wolf: Thinks to erase me.

[1:07:06] Mother Wolf: Stands lonely.

[1:07:09] Mother Wolf: Come, little one.

[1:07:12] Mother Wolf: Tiptoe on rosy toes.

[1:07:16] Mother Wolf: Tasty toes.

[1:07:18] Mother Wolf: Come to my warm shade.

[1:07:22] Mother Wolf: Her eyes blinks, dimples tighten.

[1:07:27] Mother Wolf: One, two, three.

[1:07:30] Mother Wolf: Open the window, my darling.

[1:07:33] Mother Wolf: Four five.

[1:07:37] Mother Wolf: Burn through the glass.

[1:07:40] Mother Wolf: Come to me.

[1:07:42] Mother Wolf: Feel wings fold tight.

[1:07:45] Mother Wolf: Feel gentle blackout.

[1:07:49] Mother Wolf: She raises the window.

[1:07:52] Mother Wolf: Succolent violet breath.

[1:07:58] Mother Wolf: Rip.

[1:07:59] Mother Wolf: Swallow.

[1:08:01] Mother Wolf: Sloosing.

[1:08:03] Mother Wolf: Juicing.

[1:08:06] Mother Wolf: Sweet rip of skin.

[1:08:09] Mother Wolf: Blood singing to the tips.

[1:08:12] Mother Wolf: Out each phyllo plume and shaft.

[1:08:17] Mother Wolf: You wouldn't kill a child.

[1:08:20] Mother Wolf: Next time I might.

[1:08:22] Mother Wolf: No.

[1:08:22] Mother Wolf: I was so selfish.

[1:08:24] Mother Wolf: She needs food much more than I need a girlfriend.

[1:08:29] Mother Wolf: Did the bud bloom?

[1:08:31] Mother Wolf: I bloomed.

[1:08:34] Mother Wolf: Is the vapor gone?

[1:08:36] Mother Wolf: It's gone.

[1:08:37] Mother Wolf: You clean the trash out of braided river.

[1:08:40] Mother Wolf: Fish will come back.

[1:08:42] Mother Wolf: Tasty insects, then animals and birds.

[1:08:46] Mother Wolf: Crows.

[1:08:48] Mother Wolf: The aurora?

[1:08:49] Mother Wolf: Soon.

[1:08:50] Mother Wolf: It will light up the sky soon.

[1:08:53] Mother Wolf: Here, a leaf filled with rain water.

[1:08:57] Mother Wolf: Can't swallow.

[1:08:59] Mother Wolf: Just a sip?

[1:09:01] Mother Wolf: Can't remember.

[1:09:05] Mother Wolf: Swallow.

[1:09:09] Mother Wolf: Scene five.

[1:09:10] Mother Wolf: The valley just before sunset.

[1:09:19] Mother Wolf: Sun sends final rays of the day over the valley.

[1:09:24] Mother Wolf: But the heavy blanket of heat doesn't stir.

[1:09:28] Mother Wolf: Still, I sickle chimes.

[1:09:31] Mother Wolf: I'm losing it.

[1:09:33] Mother Wolf: This fateful day we honor our dear friend Solo Crow.

[1:09:38] Mother Wolf: She had pushed aside the spark of hope inside her, but she joined our team, fought as hard as any one of us.

[1:09:45] Mother Wolf: I am sure that today she would say hope is alive.

[1:09:49] Mother Wolf: Remember to say something about her theory.

[1:09:52] Mother Wolf: I suspect she rethought it.

[1:09:54] Mother Wolf: We'll keep fighting, Solo.

[1:09:56] Mother Wolf: We'll remember you with love.

[1:09:58] Mother Wolf: Gentle wind rises.

[1:10:01] Mother Wolf: Lifted by a gentle gust of wind.

[1:10:05] Mother Wolf: Solo's spirit rises and soars away.

[1:10:09] Mother Wolf: Gentle wind dies down and out.

[1:10:13] Mother Wolf: We can't wait until what happened to Solo happens to the rest of us I have one idea left not humans no no no I planned to teach my pups to fear humans when they were old enough to leave the den.

[1:10:27] Mother Wolf: You changed your mind she said something about a good man before.

[1:10:33] Mother Wolf: My pups were fat, squirmy, squealing balls of fur, full of shenanigans.

[1:10:39] Mother Wolf: I loved each one more than I thought I could love.

[1:10:42] Mother Wolf: The pack brought fresh meat back to the den.

[1:10:45] Mother Wolf: They'd eat the kill, come home and spit up plenty for us nice and digestible.

[1:10:51] Mother Wolf: I'm expected to stay in, nursing the babies, cleaning them, keeping them warm yes, of course, but not go out until they're old enough to go to that would be twenty days or longer I need to run, taste a mountain spring, feel tundra underfoot, breathe fresh air The den is so dark I can barely see low I can't stand up.

[1:11:16] Mother Wolf: My legs cramp.

[1:11:18] Mother Wolf: How much longer how much I shouldn't leave but that morning I let them nurse until their bellies are full to bursting.

[1:11:31] Mother Wolf: Then I block the entrance so they can't get out and the local eagle can't get in and I lope off to catch up with the pack, stretching my legs oh I feel like myself again behind River Bend, a herd of caribou!

[1:11:46] Mother Wolf: We bring one down with precision.

[1:11:48] Mother Wolf: We're ripping into a flank when we hear a helicopter overhead, I gulp a few more bites and run.

[1:11:53] Mother Wolf: Not fast enough.

[1:11:54] Mother Wolf: I stumble, fall, try to stand, but my legs bend like rotten reeds.

[1:12:00] Mother Wolf: The pack disappears around a stand of birch.

[1:12:03] Mother Wolf: The sky spins, fades.

[1:12:07] Mother Wolf: Nothing.

[1:12:09] Mother Wolf: The humans shot you.

[1:12:11] Mother Wolf: Something that made me weak and woozy, but it wasn't a gun.

[1:12:15] Rabbit: Your leg?

[1:12:16] Mother Wolf: That was later.

[1:12:18] Mother Wolf: They did it so they could catch you and sell you and get money.

[1:12:22] Mother Wolf: I heard about humans and their money.

[1:12:26] Mother Wolf: The good man did it for a good reason.

[1:12:29] Rabbit: Don't sound good to me.

[1:12:31] Rabbit: Did he make you be like a schnauzer?

[1:12:33] Rabbit: I bet he did.

[1:12:35] Rabbit: Humans make schnauzers walk right next to them.

[1:12:38] Rabbit: They call it taming.

[1:12:41] Mother Wolf: I bet he tried to tame you.

[1:12:44] Rabbit: A little.

[1:12:45] Mother Wolf: I hate him.

[1:12:46] Mother Wolf: Humans are tricky. I wasn't a bit pleased being taken away from my babies. Rip his arms out! Bite his head off! I tried a few times. Did he put you in a cage? A shelter in a grassy area with a fence around it. A fence, I knew it. Day and night I pace looking for a way out, sniffing for freedom. Dig under. There's wire netting. Jump over. I jump till my legs give out. Call the pack. There's never an answer. I dream of the mountains, the river, the valley. I even miss the tourist road. At night, I creep in the shelter and whimper for my babies. The pack will take care of them, but that man had no right. A new mother should never go out hunting with the pack. Does he feed you? He leaves food by the fence.

Every day he comes in a few steps closer to the shelter. I crowd against the back wall. He's not going to bamboozle me. Ha, you're too smart for that. He talks in a low voice. Here you go. Nice big cowbone today, Luna. He calls me Luna. Every day he leaves food closer to the shelter. One day, he sits right outside with the dish of food beside him and stays there talking till the sun goes down. The next morning he's back. I stick my nose out a little, one wary eye on him, the other on the dish of meat. He keeps talking. I sneak out so slowly a grasshopper wouldn't notice. Grab a bite and back inside fast. He keeps talking. That man could talk the ugly off a boar. It goes like that, bit by bit.

Eventually I trust him enough to be at the gate when I smell him coming. One day my tail wags. He pats my head. We're going to do good, he says. We're going to teach humans about wolves. Show them we're not separate. But we are separate. We live on the same earth and breathe the same air. We're different. Not separate. He put rugs and pillows and a cooling fan in the back of a van for me. We travel to many places. We go inside buildings, and he talks to rooms full of humans. You go in rooms full of humans? I do. The man tells them they shouldn't be afraid of wolves or think that we should be dead. He tells them they're part of nature like I am. You are so brave. I see families of humans and miss mine.

A man with big boots is afraid of me, but he doesn't want to be. He sees I'm afraid of him too, and I don't want to be. He sees our connection. A white-haired woman says she learned when she was little that wolves are evil and should be killed. She believed that all her life, but now she meant me. Maybe not. A mother with a baby in her arms turns at the door. We talk through our eyes. We understand each other. A little boy with red hair stretches on tiptoe and whispers in my ear. I do like the children. Some pull my lips back from my teeth. Some hold my tail up and look underneath. Some scratch behind my ears. Some don't dare. Under my breath, I tell them, don't be frightened. One night on a city street, the good man locks the van and goes to dinner.

I'm sitting in the front seat watching him walk away around the corner. Suddenly a human yells, hey, look a wolf! Suddenly there's a crowd outside the van. Big bad wolf! Big bad wolf! Running, shouting, pounding on the van. Suddenly, a shot through the window. Blood. My leg. My friend comes running, shoves through the crowd, flings open the van door. In an instant, I'm out and away. He calls, run like the wind, Luna, run home. I wish that story would travel around the world.

[1:17:01] Blue Ice Glacier: Was that the glacier?

[1:17:03] Mother Wolf: It was. It was it is. Clear as a bell. It hopes my story will travel around the world. Hello!

[1:17:14] Crow: Your family, mother, your family's coming.

[1:17:21] Crow: Thumping feet of a hundred hopping rabbits joined howls and running feet of many wolves.

[1:17:27] Rabbit: Rabbits!

[1:17:28] Crow: A billion rabbits!

[1:17:30] Crow: A few crows caws join the rest of the oncoming animals.

[1:17:37] Crow: Flocks of crows cod joining the rest.

[1:17:43] Crow: Flying wings beat at the air as flocks of calling crows and calling birds of many kinds join howling, running wolves, hopping hordes of rabbits, galloping hooves, and the calls of different animals. All the birds and animals coming to help.

[1:17:59] Mother Wolf: Listen. Look. A waving curtain of soft greens, yellows, and pinks washes the sky. Horizon to horizon, heaven to earth, northern lights.

[1:18:19] Crow: Is this the end?

[1:18:21] Mother Wolf: No, it's a beginning. Once upon a time, the Aurora Borealis lights up.

[1:18:29] Blue Ice Glacier: Illuminates.

[1:18:30] Clematis Vine: Ah, illuminates the world with hope.

[1:18:34] Blue Ice Glacier: Do you see humans, blue eyes?

[1:18:36] Clematis Vine: They may take a little longer to get here, but keep on hoping.

[1:18:41] Blue Ice Glacier: They'll see the rocks.

[1:18:43] Clematis Vine: Will they understand?

[1:18:44] Blue Ice Glacier: Tell them.

[1:18:46] Clematis Vine: The next chapter is theirs.

[1:18:54] Unknown speaker: End of play.

[1:19:04] Unknown speaker: I'm gonna have to talk about the song for a little bit because I keep forgetting the second verse, which is a pivotal part of the song.

[1:19:10] Unknown speaker: Uh, and it um might signify something psychological.

[1:19:17] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:23:12] Iyvon Edebiri: Okay, so before we get into the interview, just wanna uh give another round of applause for our wonderful cast tonight.

[1:23:21] Iyvon Edebiri: You guys were spectacular.

[1:23:25] Iyvon Edebiri: Thank you so much. Uh Robin.

[1:23:27] Robin Rice: Yes.

[1:23:28] Iyvon Edebiri: How are you feeling?

[1:23:29] Robin Rice: Okay. Okay, I'm taking notes through the whole thing.

[1:23:33] Iyvon Edebiri: Oh, okay.

[1:23:33] Robin Rice: I always, you know, cut and change.

[1:23:36] Iyvon Edebiri: Yeah.

[1:23:37] Robin Rice: But the cast was perfect. They were each perfect. I could hear the characters clearly. They're great. Great.

[1:23:45] Iyvon Edebiri: Um, so let's get started. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind this play?

[1:23:52] Robin Rice: Well, the first inspiration, I think, was that I knew the wolf. I knew that wolf's story was true. Only there were was more than one, and actually what happened was um the the man who was tour, he was touring with three wolves. And years after I knew them, I read in the newspaper that they came to New York, and the wolves were in a van, and some there was a crowd that formed, and they were shot and killed. All three of those wolves. So you see why that would make me stick with me.

[1:24:34] Iyvon Edebiri: Yeah.

[1:24:35] Robin Rice: Um the other thing is I I was in Alaska a number of times with the last frontier theater conference, and then I went up north of Fairbanks, and I just I just love that North Country. And I was in Norway a few years ago at this time of year, and the I saw the northern lights, and not the big flashy, flashy ones, but I was in a dog sled with one other person, and it was quiet, and we came up over a rise, and uh on the um it was dusk, and on either side of us there were bushes with ice glittering, and then it was like a curtain of like like a filmy curtain of blues and greens that just went across the sky. It's magic, it's magic. So those inspired me the most for this play.

[1:25:37] Iyvon Edebiri: Yeah. Oh, and then how did you go about crafting these characters? Because they are so vivid. Um, they were definitely brought to life by our wonderful cast, but even on paper, they're so so rich and vivid. How did you go about deciding which characters and who they would represent in terms of of the context of the play?

[1:25:56] Robin Rice: Well, the wolf is clearly, she's the lead, she's the center. And at first, this play, it was just a wolf, a rabbit, and a crow. So, and those that trio kind of makes a rounded cast. But then uh I don't know where the plant came in. Um, I guess because I realized this is affecting plants as much as it is birds and animals, and then the the glacier wasn't in it for a long time. The glacier came about, in fact, I think when you first were going to do this back in March of 2019.

[1:26:29] Iyvon Edebiri: 2020.

[1:26:30] Robin Rice: 2020?

[1:26:31] Iyvon Edebiri: Yeah, we were a few weeks away before the pandemic.

[1:26:34] Robin Rice: Was that only oh that was 2020?

[1:26:36] Iyvon Edebiri: Yeah.

[1:26:37] Robin Rice: That's right. This is 2022. Oh my god. It's been a time. These last years are just a blur. And um, there was no glacier in it then.

[1:26:45] Iyvon Edebiri: Right.

[1:26:46] Robin Rice: So I rewrote it, and I thought I'll put the stage directions in somebody's. I like to have the stage directions reader for plays be animated, and I realized, well, a glacier could see everything that was happening in the valley. So that's how that character came about.

[1:27:05] Iyvon Edebiri: And she did a great job.

[1:27:07] Robin Rice: I I had no idea, I'd never heard that read before, and said she did a really good job of giving that glacier a personality.

[1:27:15] Iyvon Edebiri: Shout out to Renee.

[1:27:16] Robin Rice: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1:27:18] Robin Rice: And what about some of the other characters like Jack Rabbit?

[1:27:22] Unknown speaker: I don't know, he just kind of happened, he just kind of pushed his way in with him and his need for a girlfriend.

[1:27:29] Robin Rice: Yeah, yeah.

[1:27:31] Unknown speaker: And I had wondered, I was hoping there would be some kids here because I didn't know, I think I do know now after hearing it, I didn't know if this was for kids or not.

[1:27:44] Unknown speaker: But it is for kids.

[1:27:45] Unknown speaker: It's definitely a kids thing.

[1:27:47] Unknown speaker: And I think, um, I won't tell you all the other stuff I'm gonna change here and there to make, but it definitely is for kids.

[1:27:54] Unknown speaker: Yeah, definitely a young theater for young audiences, which is definitely one of the reasons why I selected it.

[1:28:00] Unknown speaker: We like to make sure that there are plays for everyone eventually, and this is definitely suited for the younger audiences in a beautiful way.

[1:28:09] Robin Rice: Um, one thing I love about the characters and the conversation being had is the interconnectedness of us as beings, as us of nature. And I was wondering how did you come about creating this interconnectedness as it relates to the conversation and debates about climate change?

[1:28:35] Unknown speaker: Um, specifically, um, in any of the more successful conversations you've had over the years about climate change, how does the interconnectedness of these?

[1:28:49] Robin Rice: I don't think I had to figure it out.

[1:28:49] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[1:28:51] Robin Rice: I just know it.

[1:28:52] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[1:28:53] Robin Rice: Well, I think for a lot of people it's not so obvious.

[1:28:56] Unknown speaker: I guess not.

[1:28:57] Robin Rice: I mean, I grew up in Williamstown, Mass, and we hiked and camped and walked in so much nature, yeah. You know, it was just like, "What's the weather like today?" was the first thing we talked about at breakfast. And, you know, we had animals. We had goats and chickens, and I always liked animals a lot.

[1:29:22] Robin Rice: Um, so it's just, and my parents, I think my mom was, well, she was an environmentalist. My parents were environmentalists. My grandmother got arrested in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania when she was in her 90s for chaining herself to a tree they were trying to cut down.

[1:29:39] Unknown speaker: I mean, I guess go, Grandma.

[1:29:44] Robin Rice: I mean, I guess it's always been part of the family. So it's nothing, you know, you're asking how I figured it out and thought about it. It's just, I just know that stuff.

[1:29:53] Unknown speaker: No, that's, and that's so great to hear just because it feels like climate change, uh, I will say in my experience, it feels like it's become more and more urgent, especially over the last like 10, 15 years, and we're getting now language for things that we didn't have before, and this information is becoming a little bit more readily accessible.

[1:30:17] Unknown speaker: Um, as a person who grew up in New York City, I don't think as a child, if I listened to this play, I would have really understood this would have been the first time I would have understood the interconnectedness between plants and what we eat and the glacier, you know, being this ever-knowing being. I thought that was what felt so resonant about the play is just kind of showing that in a very simple yet nuanced and beautiful way of the interconnectedness of us as nature.

[1:30:47] Robin Rice: That's great.

[1:30:48] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[1:30:49] Robin Rice: I think that, um, my granddaughter is in her twenties, and she and her friends have been ever since high school, they were working to combat climate change, and they're very aware. I think younger people are more aware, but as you say, city people are less aware.

[1:31:09] Unknown speaker: Except you've got these great parks. I've been spending a lot of time in Riverside Park and Central Park.

[1:31:16] Robin Rice: Yeah.

[1:31:16] Robin Rice: And I usually go to science camp in Prospect Park, and like we used to look at bugs and stuff, which is weird to me now because I scream when I see a bug.

[1:31:26] Unknown speaker: Um, but, um, I think I just would have really enjoyed hearing this story during summer camp, essentially in Prospect Park to go, these things are all connected and we should take better care, um, which is not always emphasized, you know.

[1:31:42] Unknown speaker: Yeah, yeah, that crow was very nice to let the last insect go.

[1:31:48] Robin Rice: Yeah, yeah. And be ignored, and you know, also the acknowledgement of, you know, when wolf eats the mouse, it's like that could have been the last mouse, and you could have, you may have, you may have messed us over, eh? And it's like, oh yeah, we need to be so considerate about those things and just honoring nature and animals and air and clean air and non-poisonous water.

[1:32:15] Robin Rice: And I saw this in the stage play version. The glacier is talking to the audience. Of course, you don't hear it in the podcast, but the, and all the way through the glacier is, you know, the animals are saying horrible things about the humans, yeah, and the glacier's saying, "They don't mean you. You're okay. You wouldn't do that, would you?" Because she's bringing them into getting them around to the end to when they really, because she knows all along they've got to do something.

[1:32:46] Unknown speaker: Right, and that they are too also living beings, and we have to share the planet eventually.

[1:32:51] Robin Rice: But I would, it, I remember the first beginning when I was writing the stage play, I was having the audience feel guilty. And I realized, oh no, no, I can't do that. I can't do that. How do I get around that? See, that's tricky.

[1:33:06] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[1:33:07] Robin Rice: And I think I got around that.

[1:33:09] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[1:33:10] Robin Rice: They're coming. They may take a little longer to get here. We'll get there. We have to, hopefully.

[1:33:16] Unknown speaker: Um, so last two questions for our interview. Where do you see the future of gender equality a hundred years from now?

[1:33:28] Robin Rice: Well, when you think about it, women have been getting power slowly but surely, more and more and more. I mean, this whole abortion thing, look what it's done. Look how it's got people voting, right? I think that in a hundred years we're gonna have a little switcheroo. I think that it's gonna be more than equal. I think women are, women, we're taking over.

[1:34:05] Unknown speaker: Yeah, we are.

[1:34:08] Robin Rice: Okay, and then last question, what did you have for breakfast this morning?

[1:34:12] Unknown speaker: It's an easy one.

[1:34:14] Robin Rice: A smoothie, all fruits and vegetables. I always have that.

[1:34:18] Unknown speaker: Oh, I love that.

[1:34:19] Unknown speaker: Oh, it's better than what I had.

[1:34:21] Robin Rice: You mean it's not really tasty?

[1:34:24] Unknown speaker: It's not awful taste.

[1:34:27] Robin Rice: I don't put any sweet stuff in it. I have spinach and carrots and stuff like that in it.

[1:34:32] Unknown speaker: Oh, all the healthy.

[1:34:33] Robin Rice: That's like a, it's healthy.

[1:34:35] Unknown speaker: Yeah, yeah.

[1:34:36] Unknown speaker: That's important. That's how you need to start your day. What did you have for breakfast?

[1:34:39] Unknown speaker: Bacon.

[1:34:41] Unknown speaker: Oh.

[1:34:42] Unknown speaker: Well delicious.

[1:34:44] Unknown speaker: Bacon is.

[1:34:45] Unknown speaker: Bacon is so good.

[1:34:49] Robin Rice: Well, thank you so much, Robin.

[1:34:53] Unknown speaker: So we just have some thank yous for all of our artistic collaborators who are part of this episode. So our wonderful cast tonight, Renee Flemings, Pamela Karp, Yuriko Miyake, Aaron Banes, Marcie Henderson, and Pamela Jean Agaloos.

[1:35:14] Unknown speaker: Directed by Melinda Hall. Our musician tonight was Pamela Jean Agaloos and Matthew Diaz. This was an eco-fable, A Wolf, Rabbit, Crow, and PLANT GIVE IT THEIR ALL, and was written by Robin Rice.

[1:35:30] Unknown speaker: Thank you to Fernando Castillo, our sound engineer, and Luke DeCola, our editor. And a thank you to our TPS team and co-producer Business Lunch Productions.

[1:35:40] Unknown speaker: BLP is a leading creative agency based in New York City, working with creatives all over the world. And thanks to the Mark O'Donnell Theater at the Entertainment Community Fund Art Center for having us in their space in downtown Brooklyn.

[1:35:56] Unknown speaker: Before we get to hear our last song from Pamela to close us out for the night, we just want to say thank you for listening to The Parsnip Ship. Please follow us on Facebook and Instagram at The Parsnip Ship NY.

[1:36:10] Unknown speaker: If you would like to help support The Parsnip Ship, please help us grow and reach new audiences by sharing your experiences and episodes across social networks. You can listen to all of our past episodes on iTunes, Spotify, Broadway Podcast Network, and anywhere you hear podcasts.

[1:36:27] Unknown speaker: Our season five, episode nine by Molly Olis Cross is now available. And Luciana Goss by Javier Rivera de Bruin will be available soon. Join us for our next live recording and the last one of 2022 on Monday, December 19th for Sea Longing by Nina Key, a new commissioned radio play from Rip from Parsnip's Radio Roots Writers Group.

[1:36:49] Unknown speaker: This episode was produced by The Parsnip Ship and Business Lunch Productions. New plays, new music.

[1:36:58] Unknown speaker: And last but not least, we welcome back our wonderful musicians, Pamela and Matthew.

[1:37:09] Pamela Jean Agaloos: So I sing Irish music on a weekly basis. Matt and I do. We're not Irish, so, uh, the only Irish thing on me is this t-shirt.

[1:37:17] Pamela Jean Agaloos: And, um, uh, this is a traditional Irish tune. Um, uh, whether you think so or not, because they don't, they don't come out the same way I learned them.

[1:37:26] Pamela Jean Agaloos: So sweet London to the fair London Town.

[1:37:47] ♪ Musical number: "Sweet London" — performed by Pamela Jean Agaloos ♪

[1:40:45] ♪ Musical number ♪