This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:06] Trevor Bachman: You are listening to FARMED, a live podcast album at the Plaxillo Gallery in Long Island City, Queens on October 23rd, 2018, in partnership with the Bushwick Book Club, Peter Cyca, and produced by The Parsnip Ship.

[0:21] Trevor Bachman: You are live and we are listening.

[2:44] ♪ Musical number: "Dream Speech" — performed by Unknown performer ♪

[3:38] Trevor Bachman: If you could create a future of any design, what would it look like? In George Orwell's Animal Farm, the animals have seized their independence from the humans that have held them captive and are able to build their lives on a blank slate. Vast hills, endless sky, a place where anything is possible. Our country, like the Animal Farm, is founded on principles of independence and freedom, championing free speech and therefore free thought. If you could create a future of any design, what would it look like? And how would you decide? On tonight's episode, we will be speaking with Governor Cuomo's Deputy Secretary of State for Economic Opportunity about civic engagement at the polls in the November 6th midterm election, as well as first-time New York congressional candidate Siraj Patel on the importance of building generational bridges as we continue to create and articulate our vision of the future.

In addition to the music of FARMED, as part of tonight's event, we will be hearing performances from the Bushwick Book Club, an organization creating live shows about literary gems, written this month in response to Animal Farm. This evening is a special event produced in tandem with The Parsnip Ship, which at the end of the episode will flip the tables and interview me. I'm Trevor Bachman, and this is FARMED. Thank you.

[4:57] Trevor Bachman: Jorge Montalvo serves on Andrew Cuomo's administration as the Deputy Secretary of State for Economic Opportunity. He formulates policy related to the state's federally funded anti-poverty programs. He also created and runs the Governor's Office for New Americans, which helps immigrants fully participate in New York's civic and economic life. Jorge, welcome.

[5:25] Trevor Bachman: And this is the first time we are ever laying eyes on one another. So Jorge, the ballots are gonna look different on November 6th than they have in the past. What will they look like and what is being done to train volunteers who run poll sites?

[5:42] Jorge Montalvo: Oh my goodness. So traditionally you are people, I think at this point people are used to seeing a ballot where you have on one side candidates and you fill out the form and you put in the machine and then you're done. Right? And most jurisdictions, not just in New York City, but around the country, that's what happens. Uh and sometimes, in certain years or in certain places, there are questions presented, so there are issues also on the ballot, traditionally on the back or sometimes on the front. So you fill them out again, that's what we're used to. This year, the ballot is a fold out. It folds open in most places in the five boroughs of New York City. And one side has candidates, the other side has some candidates.

There's some in some places there's an empty page, and then the back side has uh the questions that are proposed so for the public to read. Then you're expected to rip the ballot in half and then put the ballot into the machine to be read. One page and then the next. And now we're asking people to do this again. So it is very interesting to us to see this as an experiment that has not been done before. One, frankly, that we were not aware of until a couple of weeks ago when this the Board of Elections, which is run by a state government as opposed to local government, um, put this out. In conversations with the Board of Elections, they are adding more um training to the poll workers, more than they've done in the past to explain to people to rip the ballot and to do all these things.

Um I think that's that's good, that's important. But I think what's more important is what we're doing tonight and what we've been doing all around the city for the next several weeks, going into election day, which is to remind people that there is an election, to remind people there are questions on the ballot, and they should educate themselves and uh and be prepared to do that. And to teach people by video, just talking to each other that you have to rip this ballot. I think that's the only way we're really gonna get that information out there. So, yes, there is additional work happening with the poll workers to make sure they know to explain this. There's an instruction sheet which will come with your ballot that will explain to rip the paper, and that's great too.

And it's in multiple languages, and that's wonderful. But ultimately, I think it's incumbent on all of us to tell our friends and family that there the election is important and that there is something different this year. It's issues and the perforation of this ballot. Uh and I take and I I say this because I think there's so much energy right now, and if we don't harness this energy now, I am always afraid that if you don't harness energy, you don't have an opportunity, you lose it. And this is our chance. This is our chance to make something different and really grow something. I think we can all feel this energy and excitement around getting more involved. The more involved doesn't have to be voting.

It could be volunteering with your local community, neighborhood group organization or block association, but there's something there right now, and I think we all feel it. And uh and I think this this election can serve as like the beginning of something really special.

[8:33] Trevor Bachman: Awesome. Thank you. Jorge Montalvo.

[8:37] Jorge Montalvo: Thank you.

[8:43] ♪ Musical number: "Break That Rock" — performed by Unknown performer ♪

[11:40] From Bushwick Book Club, John S. Hall: Okay. All right, I'll give it a try. Song is called Animal Liberation.

[12:00] ♪ Musical number: "Animal Liberation" — performed by John S. Hall ♪

[13:33] John S. Hall: The life of an animal is slavery. And when our usefulness ends, then so must we slaughtered and butchered with hideous cruelty. Then they cook and eat our flesh. Yes, that's our destiny. Humans consume, they never produce they can't make anything, no milk, no eggs, no juice.

[19:13] ♪ Musical number ♪

[19:40] Trevor Bachman: You guys, when you vote, you uh high-five all the poll workers, right? That's what I do. You know, I get so excited. Um it's uh really invigorating. I totally feel so American at that moment. I can really be happy about it. I mean, my parents, you know, they're never tired of telling me like how much they give up to come to this country and to be American, la la la la, even though you know they also complain about me being American and whatnot, you know, all those things too. And well, you know, they like to complain, they're really good at it. It's like a genetic thing. Um, but uh, but when I go into the polls, I'm just like, hey, American! Supercharged, you know. Just high-five your poll workers. Yeah, high-five the poll workers, you know, and each other, all right.

[20:29] Trevor Bachman: So this uh the song we wrote here is for Squealer, if you remember in the book, because you did your homework. Um Squealer is the pig who was very important because he took the message and brought it to the other animals, and he had a lot of spin. You know, he um he got a he had some truthiness and some alternative facts. It's for uh for Squealer here. All right, you guys ready? Yeah. It's a little little disco number for Squealer.

[21:21] ♪ Musical number ♪

[24:59] ♪ Musical number ♪

[26:17] Trevor Bachman: Who will you listen to? Who will you listen to? Who will you listen to? Who will you listen to? Don't listen to the big squeal.

[26:55] Jorge Montalvo: Molly was a male, was a male, wore blue ribbons in her hair. Aid expensive chocolate loved the finer things. And she gazed in the mirror. Yeah, she gazed in the mirror, Molly, gazed in the mirror to admire her figure in the glass.

[34:12] ♪ Musical number: "Dynamo" — performed by Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club ♪

[34:12] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Why I know I'm gonna do the work for you in this democracy, our credibility, responsibility, black and white is now alarmingly untrue, so commonly very deliberately, left and right rumors, rumors, rumors our great responsibility to our community makes us extremely proud of our quality, but we're concerned about the common trend of irresponsible, one-sided stories playing our country.

[34:12] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Please welcome to the stage, Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club.

[34:30] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: So I have Batman to help me out.

[34:38] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: I know I know he uh Batman wasn't on the farm, but um there was a discussion about having rodents be a part of the community, and you know, anything with wings is acceptable.

[34:51] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: So Batman has wings.

[34:56] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Um we're gonna try to try to make this work.

[34:59] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Um loves hip hop, aka Batman.

[35:03] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: So we're gonna try to make that happen.

[35:05] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Um I'm a revolutionary, and this is a dope book for me to be a part of because I love Bushwick Book Club and what they do, and I've always loved when they do political themes.

[35:18] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: So I'm really excited about this one.

[35:20] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: We're on um, we're at Rikers doing workshops with young people doing hip hop.

[35:26] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Um, and this is very appropriate.

[35:34] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: This is Benjamin's eye, so it's all about you know the ass or the donkey, just not really believing, and a lot of things is happening.

[35:44] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: I'm very dismayed.

[35:45] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: I identify with the donkey as a revolutionary, not really into voting, but we're here, actions on all fronts, and Batman's gonna support me to make this happen.

[36:05] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: So if we could try to, yeah, okay.

[36:07] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: We're gonna try to feel it because it's hip hop, we try to, you know, feel a little bit.

[36:15] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good.

[36:18] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Four legs good, two legs bad, not bad meaning bad, but I've seen it all, I've seen them rise, I've seen them fall, I've seen it all, I seen it all.

[36:35] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: I seen them rise, I've seen them fall, I've seen it all.

[36:41] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: I seen them rise.

[36:46] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: What if I told you now?

[36:50] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: What if I told you?

[36:51] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: What if I told you all?

[36:55] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: What if I told you?

[36:56] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: What if I told you now?

[36:59] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Would you believe?

[37:06] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Man was bad, he was bred from young.

[37:12] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Forever growing old.

[37:17] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Fat with pie, drink of all his rum.

[37:23] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: His heart is growing cold.

[37:27] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: You can be what you want to be, yet you still believe unfree.

[37:38] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: You can be what you want to be, yet you choose to be like he.

[37:48] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Well, what if I told you?

[37:50] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: What if I told you now?

[37:54] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: What if I told you?

[37:55] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: What if I told you all?

[37:59] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: What if I told you?

[38:00] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: What if I told you all?

[38:10] ♪ Musical number ♪

[39:03] ♪ Musical number ♪

[39:08] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Would you believe it's a bat solo.

[39:30] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: So if you know the book, or if you don't, you can catch on to it.

[39:33] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: It's real simple.

[39:35] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Four legs good, two legs bad, not bad, meaning bad, but bad meaning good.

[39:40] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Four legs good, two legs, not bad, meaning bad, but bad meaning good.

[39:46] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Four legs good, two legs.

[39:48] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Not bad, meaning bad, but bad meaning, four legs, two legs, not bad, meaning bad, but bad, meaning good.

[39:57] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: I've seen them rise, I've seen them fall.

[40:02] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: I've seen them rise, I've seen them fall.

[40:11] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Winmals and politicians.

[40:13] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: I've seen you rise, I've seen you want to be, yet you choose to be hung free.

[40:28] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: You can be what you want to be, yet you choose to be like he.

[40:38] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Thank you very much.

[40:58] John S. Hall: In two thousand seventeen, Siraj Patel announced his candidacy to challenge rep Carolyn B. Maloney for New York's 12th Congressional District.

[41:08] John S. Hall: Patel, who supports legalizing marijuana and lowering tuition costs, as well as publicly stating his intentions to vote if elected to defund ice, has cited a generational, yes.

[41:08] John S. Hall: Has cited a generational divide among Democrats.

[41:26] John S. Hall: In February of this year, Patel's campaign reported raising five hundred fifty thousand dollars during the previous quarter, despite having refused all corporate and super PAC campaign contributions.

[42:02] Trevor Bachman: Yes. Not suited up this time. Thank God. You said in our last interview, you said despondency paralyzes you from action. You should treat yourself with the agency that you have. In a news stream that seems to grow darker every day, how do we combat collective feelings of despondency and claim our power as a people?

[42:24] Jorge Montalvo: Uh well, look, I mean, I said that in the context of, and I still believe that, that one of the tactics that Donald Trump and Republicans generally, or actually, now I'm gonna extend that to much of the establishment altogether who believes change, great change, real change, change to our grassroots core can't be possible, is to make you feel like it can't be possible. That despondency is a tactic, it is not a strategy, and therefore you must remember that it's calculated to make you throw your hands up and say, "Well, what how do I bother?" And it's supposed to help you, it's supposed to breed apathy. This is like if you read Art of War, you realize that Donald Trump puts you on a defensive footing at all times.

And that exhaustion that leads from that sort of chaotic thing is what stops you from moving. Um we're in obviously a really, really unique time, probably the most unique time of our lifetime so far, and maybe will be. And I know that you've heard that like a broken record. This is the most important election of our lifetime. Every election, everyone is gonna tell you that. No one ever won an election by lowering the stakes so take that with a grain of salt. However, I will say this. Um, you know, we in our election in our campaign invited you all to help put together an art performance because art and culture, I believe, are part and personal politics. You're proving that whether or not at the ballot box or on the streets or elsewhere, that you will not take this war footing lightly.

That despondency is breeding for you a unique kind of activism. I think the reason we had that event is because I said to you that day, and everyone wasn't there so I will repeat it but since seventh grade I've had a painting or a portrait of John Kennedy that hangs on my wall and he was at Amherst College three weeks before his assassination eulogizing Robert Frost and on it there's an inscription on my painting he's you know he's in repose and it's really sad and it says the people who create power make an indispensable contribution to a nation's greatness but the people who question power make a contribution just as indispensable especially when that questioning is disinterested for it is they who determine whether we use power or power uses us anybody that doesn't believe that art or culture or science has to do with politics doesn't understand art culture and science and yeah you know and so and so here we are in this gallery at this moment exercising our agency in a way that will have much more lasting impact.

[44:05] Trevor Bachman: You know, I just that was a beautiful song a second ago but that's gonna have much more lasting impact on that child and our agency to believe you know that we can fight back no matter what they do to us.

[45:38] Jorge Montalvo: And so um you're proving it. We're not gonna be despondent, whether it is limiting your social media consumption, which I have done, tactically speaking, you know. I actually told myself this this year that if you're uh sit uh, you know, I if every moment that I sit there and refresh and I'm consuming, I heard that from somebody who just performed a second ago too. Every minute we're consuming is a minute we're not creating. Oh, thank God. And so, and so I have found myself limiting my consumption of things that make me despondent and instead channeling that time and energy into creating things. Amazing. Imagination, this is also a quote from Siraj. Imagination, curiosity, creativity will get us out of this mess.

It takes a blank slate and a fresh vision. While there are many solutions being proposed from how to accommodate change from masses of refugees to reducing carbon emissions, reality sadly does not offer us a blank slate. We are being asked to create solutions within circumstance and systems that are less than ideal for allowing our ideas to manifest. How do you envision creating a fertile ground for the change we know needs to occur in a very limited amount of time?

[46:57] Trevor Bachman: Well, we don't have a time machine. Uh we can never go backwards in time. Policies, politics, elections ought to be about the future because of that. Time zero is now. Everything has happened until now is just prologue. I agree we have innumerable issues when it comes to say the climate or immigration or mass incarceration in this country right now. And those we did not have as a generation, um, a hand in creating. We've inherited significant intergenerational justice issues that is gonna fall upon us to fix. But that's just the world we have. And so when I say it takes imagination, curiosity, um that's just the human condition. We're always gonna be faced with or inheriting circumstances we didn't choose to create, just in the same way as we were inheriting agency we didn't create.

We happen to be born in a country where for the most part, at least until very recently, the deal was that if you worked hard and you believed in the power of your dreams, you could go and fight to achieve them. And if that you fell back, there was a safety net that picked you up so that you could take those risks again. That is precisely what makes this country exceptional. And it may be upon our generation then to fix that net, to redo that deal, to recreate that dream for the next generation, and that's okay, that's our burden. But uh, you know, think about it, it is a blank slate. It is a blank slate today because if we cannot go backwards and fix what has been broken for us, we can only fix going forward what we've inherited.

[48:32] Jorge Montalvo: Awesome. You've also said, so good that you're bringing us to this. The future is bright so long as we get there in one piece. My generation's job is to be the bridge. What is your role in building that bridge?

[48:48] Trevor Bachman: Boy, uh, four months, three and a half months off of election. I would love to crowdsource the answer to that question right now. Um look, um, the coolest thing I ever did was care. I think that a lot of it became cool there in the middle, I don't know when, prior to this Donald Trump nightmare and all that, to be like, you know, oh, what can I do about it? I don't care. I'm too cool for these problems. You know what I mean? And there was like an apathy that set in that that something uh, you know, there was something valuable about being cynical and all of that. I think it happens to a lot of us as we get older and to the point where you know, all the hopes and dreams and stuff that you had for yourself, some of them may not be panning out, and the way to do it is to not incalculate yourself by stealing and having that reserve.

Well, there is something really valuable. I just spent the better part of a year of my life bearing my soul out there. And there's something really, really valuable and empowering about it. I encourage everyone to do it. Um and I um, you know, and so I guess my role in this is to do something that really I think that my takeaway throughout that campaign and after is the most incredible thing we got was the hundreds of emails, texts, messages, Facebook messages, all those things from so many people, oftentimes young people, but people of all ages and all colors and all genders, that you're making me feel like I could run for office, that I could make change. Like someone like me could also be there.

If nothing else, um, my role here, I think, is to continue to empower and elevate the most marginal voices among us, the most powerless or those with the least agency. Yes, in my case, that often ends up becoming my activism, younger people, because we tend to lack agency in politics, but just generally anybody who is among the most marginalized among us. I think if I did that, you know, that's a that's a that's a pretty good base hit.

[51:05] Jorge Montalvo: Wow. Thank you. Um last thing, campaigns, he said, should be an act of service. A campaign must engage, lift up, and empower people instead of divide them. Well, this quote was initially in response to a question about his own political campaign. I'm curious how this principle extends beyond politics into an interpersonal sphere of everyday life.

[51:24] Trevor Bachman: Oh, that's actually a great um great question and one that I th I said that quote in the context of many campaigns um view themselves as you know the right way to win, the easy way to win, the easier way to win oftentimes is to divide, to lower the denominator, make politics so ugly and divisive and and nasty that you don't want to be part of it, and then your core group of people who may which may only be 40% of say a country or a district, look like 51%, because so many people stay aside. We see, you know, a man occupying the White House who behaves that way. Well, the other side would be if you spent time educating and empowering and making people care, you will include and increase the number of people in the process.

But in doing so, you make it harder on yourself to win. As the numerator rises and the denominator says the denominator rises, you have to also get more of that share. That's okay. That's the campaign we wanted to run. That is a campaign that's an act of service, that's a campaign that empowers. In our personal lives, then I think the same thing. Yeah, it may be that by engaging and empowering another generation of activists and politicians and all of that, then increasing competition for, say, for example, myself. So what? So be it. Um, I spent a lot of time after this election sort of engaging in some self-care, trying to figure out where to plant. I'm still thinking about those things. I'm still trying to figure out where to go next.

But I did tell myself one thing that so many people in that campaign, and my family and my friends and everyone else gave me so much time and effort and energy and love and care that on a project of mine, let's say, that when I'm trying to figure out what to do, in the meanwhile, I was all I committed to spending time on other people's projects in the same way to give back that same thing, the most precious resource time. So I do think that like when stuck when looking for something to do, um in what you said, empowering and then lifting other people can never really go wrong for you. And so we can really just take what you asked me and really bring it down to the actual core level and say we should always be helping people adjacent to us, immediately to us and everywhere, um, and elevating them.

[53:49] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Thank you.

[53:50] Spirit Child from the Bushwick Book Club: Thanks. Please welcome to the stage, Ray Brown from the Bushwick Book Club.

[54:35] ♪ Musical number: "The Beasts of England" — performed by Ray Brown ♪

[55:49] ♪ Musical number ♪

[55:55] ♪ Musical number ♪

[55:55] ♪ Musical number: "Molly" — performed by The Bushwick Book Club ♪

[59:28] ♪ Musical number: "Dying" — performed by The Bushwick Book Club ♪

[1:01:47] ♪ Musical number: "Memory" — performed by The Bushwick Book Club ♪

[1:02:40] ♪ Musical number: "Run" — performed by The Bushwick Book Club ♪

[1:05:49] ♪ Musical number: "Climbing" — performed by The Bushwick Book Club ♪

[1:08:43] Unknown speaker: That was Silver Wallace, by the way.

[1:11:05] Iyvon Edebiri: So this is different.

[1:11:07] Trevor Bachman: Yeah.

[1:11:09] Iyvon Edebiri: I'm gonna do the interview. Which is actually this is a lot scarier. So my name is Iyvon Edebiri, and I'm the artistic director of The Parsnip Ship, and we do radio plays. Oh, yay, fans. Um, and one part of our radio play series that we have is that we interview the playwright, the creator generator, and in this instance, it's not a play, it's a live podcast album. And we have a composer, and that is Trevor Bachman. So who's brought us his work has brought us here today? And so um I'm just gonna roll out what I usually ask our playwrights.

[1:11:50] Trevor Bachman: Roll it.

[1:11:50] Iyvon Edebiri: And so the first thing I usually ask our playwrights and at the top of our recording is what would the world be missing if it didn't have I usually say this play, but if it didn't have what you have created for us.

[1:12:05] Trevor Bachman: I think the world would be it's such a grand statement to say the world needs this, but I guess that's what you're saying when you get up and do something is the world there's a void and you want to fill it. And I guess I choose to fill it with all of these people. Um I think the songs are just the container. Orwell's message is truth and the container, but really this event for me um is about all of them, and it's about hearing them and it's about seeing them, and it's about us being together to make this stuff and um community.

[1:12:38] Trevor Bachman: Yeah, uh us as community, because it's we're literally all we have. That's it.

[1:12:44] Iyvon Edebiri: Yeah, yeah. It's beautiful. And what inspired you to write uh to start to compose FARMED?

[1:12:51] Trevor Bachman: Yeah. Um so during the inauguration, um, I was on an Amtrak and I couldn't watch it because I felt so sick to my stomach. Uh so I put away my computer and I had this book with me. Um, it was on my Kindle, and I had been wanting to reread it since high school because I remembered it had made me feel something, but I I didn't I couldn't tell you what. Um, and as I was reading it, I was like, everything that is happening now in this moment politically, socially, has happened, and the pieces of this that have not yet unfolded are written about in this book.

[1:13:26] Trevor Bachman: And so it's important for us to know what's coming. It's important for us to know our history. Um, and by the time I got to Penn Station in New York, I was like, I'm I'm doing this. People need to know about this. People need to know about this book, people need to know about these words.

[1:13:41] Trevor Bachman: Yeah. And um, this is the fourth iteration of FARMED. And so and each iteration has a different topic and a focus. And this one tonight is on voter rights and um, you know, all the things that go with that, including voter suppression and voter responsibility. And we're recording this live two weeks before the midterm election, um, which is happening on Tuesday, November 6th. So everyone go out and vote for sure. But what are the connections that you um because we we sat and talked about what the theme would be for this, and you brought up voter rights.

[1:14:16] Iyvon Edebiri: So, what did you see the themes between what's ha what what's in Animal Farm and voter rights and also maybe what's happening now in our current political and social landscape?

[1:14:31] Trevor Bachman: The animals in the book behave the way they do because they can't remember for very long periods of time. So if something happened to them ten years ago, or you know, an animal ten years is a lifetime, you know. So it's if something happened to them at the beginning of their life, by the time that they're an adult or or old, they don't remember. They don't remember what it was like to even be in it in another existence in another time period. And I think, you know, the memory is the thing that we need the most of right now, and I see that in in remembering how elections have influenced our nation's history in the past and remembering how people who don't participate in a system get put in camps.

[1:15:14] Trevor Bachman: Uh in remembering the things that can happen, I think all of that starts if we're gonna work within the system and if we're gonna choose to believe that the American system can work and will work, then we have to flood it. We have to flood it with everything that we want to say.

[1:15:31] Iyvon Edebiri: Yeah. I love that. Um so two last two questions. And so one thing I always ask our playwrights since December 2016, um, is if Donald Trump was in this room, he had 60 seconds, what would you say to him?

[1:15:48] Trevor Bachman: I would play him these tracks. That's what I would do. I would play him these damn tracks. And and I actually think I actually think there would be nothing that I could personally say to him to reach somebody of that kind of obstinence. So I would put on the I would put on the damn CD and have him listen to it.

[1:16:09] Iyvon Edebiri: What what are the 60 seconds of the CD?

[1:16:12] Trevor Bachman: He has a short attention span.

[1:16:16] Iyvon Edebiri: Okay, so so we'd have to give him something, we'd have to give him something super fast.

[1:16:21] Trevor Bachman: Yeah, so I would say, I would say probably the song you're about to hear right now, which is uh which if I may, if I may talk about what it is.

[1:16:30] Iyvon Edebiri: Oh yeah.

[1:16:30] Trevor Bachman: Okay, so um uh this song you're gonna hear, it's our last song of the night, um, is called The Drum. And there's a moment in the book Animal Farm where Boxer, who is the workhorse of the farm, and he he puts his entire life into doing the work and putting fighting the good fight and doing everything he's told to do. Um, and by the end of his life, his body has become so worn and he can no longer do this work.

[1:16:53] Trevor Bachman: So they realize his usefulness has been uh depleted, and they put him in uh a metal crate, and they tell him he's being taken to the doctor when in fact he's being taken to a glue factory. Um and as he's being let out of the farm in this sort of prison like cart, it says on the side of it, like that it it's essentially an executioner, and only one of the animals can read, Benjamin the donkey.

[1:17:18] Trevor Bachman: Um and he says, Don't you all understand? They're not taking him to get better, they're taking him to his death, they're taking him to the knacker. And um when Boxer hears this, and all the animals start screaming and saying, Boxer boxer, come back, but it's too late. And as Boxer hears this, he peeks his head out of the hole in the back of the cart, and as he's looking through it, he turns around and he starts kicking.

[1:17:41] Trevor Bachman: He starts kicking the metal doors, and all of the animals can hear are this are the sound of his hooves kicking against this metal door, trying to fight out for his life with the last bit of strength that he has against all of these forces that are pulling him away. And if I'm to be honest with you, that is exactly the moment we are in right now. And we've all got to kick for our lives. So with that, I leave you The Drum.

[1:18:04] ♪ Musical number: "The Drum" — performed by Trevor Bachman ♪

[1:18:51] ♪ Musical number ♪

[1:20:34] Trevor Bachman: FARMED is directed by Kevin Hourigan. Special thanks to Iyvon Edebiri from The Parsnip Ship, Susan Huang from Bushwick Book Club, Carlos Armesto from Theatre C and Zac Infonte. Thank you so much.