Episode 80 - Syllabus

Thanks for Hitting Play and then listening to Hit Play. This episode: What we have learned, what we are learning, and what we want to learn. Some of the plays may contain sensitive topics. For more specific content warnings, check out the timecodes below.

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2:01 [CW: Redacted Slurs] - Neo Monologue: Constructed (Or, Questions from the Classroom) — Part 2 by Rudy Ramirez

5:35 - Dunbar Rises by Michaela Farrell

8:25 - [CW: ideation of gun violence & murder] Gun Play by Joey Rizzolo

11:40 - Quarantine Skill Check-In, or In Which I See If I Can Still Name All 197 Countries in Under 15 Minutes Via a Quiz on Sporcle.com by Jake Banasiewicz

15:17 - Automated Empathic Response Therapist by Joey Rizzolo

20:37 - Teaching Gratitude by Hilary Asare

Our logo was designed by Gabriel Drozdov

Our sound is designed by Anthony Sertel Dean

Hit Play is produced by Anthony Sertel Dean, Hilary Asare, and Jake Banasiewicz

Take care!

Transcript 

Show Intro
	electronic instrumental music plays underneath.

Jake: 80. Syllabus. Hi, I’m Jake—a New York Neo-Futurist. While our on-going, ever-changing, late-night show, The Infinite Wrench, continues to be on hold for the foreseeable future, we wanted a place to keep making art for you. And so we made this podcast!  

If you’re already a fan of The New York Neo-Futurists, or any of our sibling companies, hello! We can’t wait to throw an egg in your face. We probably won’t do that, but we could. If this is totally new to you—welcome to it!

We make art by four rules: We are who we are, we’re doing what we’re doing, we are where we are, and the time is now. Simply put: we tell stories, and those stories are our own. Everything that you hear is actually happening. So if we tell you we are sitting on the floor in our closet, scratching at our hamper, we’re really sitting on the floor in our closet, scratching at our hamper. Like I am right now. 

	Jake scratches his hamper.

Mmmm.
Some of the work in this episode may contain sensitive topics. For more specific content warnings, check the timecodes in the show notes.

This episode’s randomly generated theme is: syllabus.

And now, Shelton will Run the Numbers!

Shelton: Hello, I’m Shelton, a New York Neo-Futurist. 

In this episode we’re bringing you 6 new plays. Oooooooo.

This week’s cast is Rudy Ramirez, Michaela Farrell, Joey Rizzolo, Jake Banasiewicz and Hilary Asare.

That brings us to 373 audio experiments on Hit Play. Enjoy!
	Music winds down.

Play 1: Neo Monologue: Constructed (Or, Questions from the Classroom) — Part 2 (1:32)
GO!
Rudy: WHAT MAKES AN EXCELLENT TEACHER? 
   
(GENTLE, MOODY MUSIC BEGINS)

THINK OF AN EXCELLENT TEACHER THAT YOU’VE HAD. 


WHAT MADE THEM EXCELLENT? 

I’M A TEACHER. 

I’M A TIRED TEACHER

I’M A TIRED THEATRE TEACHER. 

I’M A TIRED EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE TEACHER WORKING IN NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS.   

I’M A TIRED GENDER NONCONFORMING EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE TEACHER WORKING IN NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS — SURVIVING AND SURVIVING AND SURVIVING A PANDEMIC. 

IN CLASS, I WORK WITH YOUNG PEOPLE TO MINE THEIR OWN LIVES, THEIR LIVED EXPERIENCES, MEMORIES, MUSINGS, AND WONDERINGS AND WE ALCHEMIZE IT INTO LIVE PERFORMANCE — A HOLY COLLAGE OF VIGNETTES, TABLEAUX, IMAGES, GESTURES, AND MONOLOGUES.   

MOST OF THE TIME, WE CAN GET TO SOME PLACE OF MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING ABOUT SIMPLE, BUT PROFOUND TRUTHS. 

BUT SOMETIMES, A STUDENT — KNOWINGLY OR NOT — WILL JUST BLURT OUT—   

“OH I GET IT — YOU’RE A MAN IN A DRESS.”

WHAT MAKES AN EXCELLENT TEACHER?

THE CHART PAPER
THE BARBIE BANDAIDS 
WHAT DOES NEW YORK CITY SOUND LIKE?
THE FRESHEST SHARPIE, TEEMING WITH POSSIBILITY
SCRIBBLES ON INDEX CARDS
JUICY APPLE SLICES AND JUICIER GOSSIP
RIHANNA AND KING AND SOFIA WITH AN F
NAME GAMES AND WHAT MAKES A GOOD NEIGHBOR?
IT’S DRAWING TIME, BABY
CIRCLES — 
SITTING CIRCLES AND STANDING CIRCLES, 
CHAIRS IN CIRCLES, 
CARPET SQUARES IN CIRCLES
COLLECTIVE BREATHS TENDERLY HELD
THE SACRED SPACE OF JOURNALS
ON A SCALE OF ONE TO FIVE
WHO TAUGHT YOU THOSE WORDS?
WHO TAUGHT YOU THOSE WORDS?

(THE MUSIC, A SOFTLY BURNING CINDER OF A SOUND.)

THE TRUTH IS I AM A TEACHER. A TEACHER WHO PASSES DOWN KNOWLEDGE OF MOVEMENT AND TEXT AND SOUND. A CAPITAL B, BURNT OUT TEACHER. A TEACHER OFTEN EXPECTED TO ABSORB EVERY WORD THAT IS REGURGITATED BY A STUDENT — WHO TAUGHT YOU THOSE WORDS? 

GO AHEAD, GO AHEAD — SPIN IT INTO A GOLDEN LEARNING MOMENT  — OH I GET IT YOU’RE A — MINE FOR GOLD MINE FOR GOLD MINE FOR GOLD I HAVE TO BE WORTH MORE THAN MY ABILITY TO TAKE THE SHAPE OF A SENTIENT, IMPERVIOUS CALLUS RIGHT? RIGHT?  AND BECAUSE THEY ARE CHILDREN I AM ASKED TO BE RESILIENT WHEN IN FACT I AM SOFT. I AM SOFT AND I DON’T KNOW THE AGE AT WHICH WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR WORDS ANYMORE AND I’M NOT SUGGESTING THAT — 

(NEXT FOUR LINES GET PROGRESSIVELY DEEPER AND DEEPER IN PITCH)

YOU DRESS LIKE A GAY ASS FAGGOT! 

	(BEAT)

WHO TAUGHT YOU THOSE WORDS?

	(BEAT. MUSIC BEGINS TO FADE.)

WHAT MAKES AN EXCELLENT TEACHER?

(BEAT. MUSIC FADES OUT.)
	
WHAT MAKES AN EXCELLENT TEACHER?

Play 2: Dunbar Rises (1:32)
GO!
MF: I want to tell you a story about my science teacher in the 7th Grade

Her name was Ms. Dunbar. She was a total character. She was one of those teachers who lit a match every time she farted and made up little chants for every little science by-law she taught us. One of the ones I remember the most is:

HEAT RISES! COLD SINKS! CONVECTION!!

I will literally never forget this. It is burned in my brain forever. I am reminded every time I am wading in the ocean and my feet are colder than my shoulders, every time I climb a ladder and it's really warm near the ceiling as opposed to the base level, etc etc. 

Ms. Dunbar was also very honest with us- which you could probably tell by the fart thing. She was one of those teachers who would give off-hand, under her breath comments about really awful things that happened to her- How men would approach her on the street and harass her, how a lot of people at school would call her “crazy” and “insane”. 

No, I wasn’t really able to truly understand how much she was suffering until I was much older. Memories of how male teachers treated her, how she was always called “loopy” by a lot of the parents, came rushing in when I really started thinking about it. Looking back, I realize the woman never got a break.

But there was always something inside of me that knew, Dunbar was not what all of these people were making her out to be! She was certainly weird- but she was also a brilliant science teacher and human. She invested in Bitcoin early! She was a semi-professional Kite Surfer who traveled to Florida sometimes for competitions! Heat Rises, Cold Sinks, CONVECTION! Which brings me to my story. Dunbar discovered a secret weapon. 

Ms. Dunbar told me one day that her new method for whenever she was afraid she would be harassed or taken advantage of on the street, she would simply pretend she was walking a dog. She would just walk out in the street and pretend she had an unruly dog on a leash. She would run after the imaginary dog, say Heal, and Make! She was tired of people fucking  with her, so she said fuck it and gave in to whatever they thought she was.

When she told me this, I thought it was a really funny image. A grown woman walking an invisible dog on the street- that’s strange. But now, as a woman living in New York City, where who knows what’s going to happen when you step out onto the sidewalk in the morning -  I think it’s genius. Because yeah I’ve tried it. And because she was right. No one fucks with you.  

When Dunbar was in trouble, she chose not to sink. She turned up the heat.

Play 3: Gun Play (1:32)
GO!
Joey: Shelton, have you ever owned a gun?
Shelton: No. My family has, but not me personally.
Joey: So you grew up in a household with a gun in it?
Shelton: Yeah, I grew up in a house that had a room that was called the “War Room”, which was just decorated in weapons from different cultures.
Joey: Do you own a gun now?
Shelton: Just a glue gun.
Joey: Do you want to own a gun?
Shelton: Absolutely not.
Joey: Do you think you should own a gun?
Shelton: No.
Joey: Having grown up in a house with a “War Room”, have you ever fired a gun?
Shelton: No.
Joey: If you were in a position where you had to hunt your food, would you prefer to stab it, kill it with your bare hands, or shoot it?
Shelton: Probably stab it.
Joey: What if we were at war and you were conscripted to protect others. What would be your weapon of choice in providing that protection?
Shelton: Drones, Joey. Do you think I’d do well in combat? I’m a homosexual.
Joey: Do you ever think about the possibility of global economic collapse?
Shelton: Oh my god, yes.
Joey: Hypothetically, if such a calamity were to occur, let’s say you live in a rural area, like the one you grew up in, and your dog is sick and the nearest back alley vet is 70 miles away and you haven’t sufficiently tithed to your local gasoline warlord to be able to drive that far. If you needed to euthanize a sick pet and you had no access to veterinary care, what tool would you use to provide a humane end?
Shelton: I would use a dagger to probably cut its throat or stab its chest so that I could reach into its body and then, like, squeeze its heart. This is how I was taught to slaughter lambs with minimal-
Joey: You’re a butcher.
Shelton: Yeah.
Joey: What about a person? So, euthanasia is illegal in most states, but in the context of societal breakdown, the trivialities of what is or isn’t legal would be irrelevant. So if a loved one was being consumed by a terminal illness, doomed to suffer until their last moment, would you want to end that suffering before the natural progression of disease takes its course?
Shelton: Yes.
Joey: And what tool would you use to provide such an ending?
Shelton: I mean, dream world, I would use pharmaceuticals. I guess if that wasn’t an option it would be up to the person in question, so my assumption is smothering.
Joey: Here are the methods by which people have been murdered in New York so far this year:
Stabbed
Stoned
Beaten to death
Shot with a gun.

If you had to choose between one of these four methods of being murdered, which would you prefer?
Shelton: I guess shot.
Joey: Okay, let’s say you have to murder someone else. You don’t have a choice. You have to do it, and you’re not going to get caught. How would you prefer to do it?
Shelton: Okay if I had to kill William Shatner, I’d do it with a dagger, so that he could know it was me as the life drained out of his eyes.
Joey: So the person you would kill, to be clear, for legal purposes, would be William Shatner.
Shelton: Sure! I mean, I don’t want to kill anyone, but if I had to kill someone, I think I would probably want to stab or shoot them.
Joey: Do you want to own a gun?
Shelton: No.
Joey: Yeah, I don’t either. Do you think you should own a gun?
Shelton: No.

Play 4: Quarantine Skill Check-In, Or In Which I See If I Can Still Name All 197 Countries in Under 15 Minutes Via a Quiz on Sporcle.com (1:32)
GO!
Jake will record himself taking the sporcle.com quiz titled “Countries of the World”. He will name all the countries that he types and have all of his thoughts out loud. This play will be a mashup of all the thoughts that he had in the process. The typing will also be heard.


Play 5: Automated Empathic Response Therapist (1:32)
GO!
AERS: Hi. 

RESPONDENT: Hello.

AERS: Hi. Can you tell me your name?

RESPONDENT: Michaela Farrell.

AERS: Hello, “Michaela Farrell”. Today I’m going to be your Automated Empathic Response Therapist. We’re going to be discussing your anxieties. I am not a licensed mental health professional, so in order to liberate myself from indemnity, all of these questions and responses are pre-recorded. I really do hope I can help you in some way, though. I care about you and I want you to be well and to succeed. Do you believe that?

RESPONDENT: Um, yes. Thank you.

AERS: I am also required to inform you that while my questions and responses may connote trained professional conduct, I have difficulty maintaining a clinical distance from my patients, which is partly why I am not a licensed therapist. Knowing that, will you consent to two minutes of unlicensed therapy?

RESPONDENT: Um, knowing this, I will. Yes. Fine, I consent.

AERS: Thank you. Your response of “Fine, I consent” has been recorded and is legally binding. Are you ready to begin?

RESPONDENT: Yes, yes.

AERS: That’s certainly a valid response. First I want to ask about your self-image. What do you love about yourself? 

RESPONDENT: I like that I’m an Aries. That. I like that I’m uhhh kinda spunky and scrappy.

AERS: “I’m an Aries and kinda spunky and scrappy” are definitely things worthy of pride and accolade. 

RESPONDENT: Thank you.

AERS: “Michaela Farrell”.  

RESPONDENT: Yes.

AERS: How would you describe your anxieties?

RESPONDENT: Oh, um I’d describe my anxieties as, like bowling but always getting in the gutter. In the side. You know what I mean? Never hitting a pin.

AERS: You mentioned that “bowling but always getting in the gutter.” Tell me more about that.

RESPONDENT: Um you know when you’re bowling and just can’t hit the pin. That’s what it feels like when I have bad anxiety. It’s just like you’ll always, it’s always just going in the gutter no matter where you throw or where you roll.

AERS: So what I’m hearing is, “it’s always just going in the gutter no matter where you throw”. Would you say I’m wording that correctly?

RESPONDENT: Yes. Yeah.

AERS: That’s definitely a challenge. “Bowling but always getting in the gutter” can be a great source of anxiety, and I don’t blame you for feeling that way. There is a tried and tested intervention for ameliorating anxiety caused by “bowling but always getting in the gutter”. Would you like to hear it?

RESPONDENT: Of course I would, yes.

AERS: That’s too bad. Maybe someday when you have more time. Since we do need to keep this brief, and you seem to be some degree of receptive to this process, let’s dive deeper. 

RESPONDENT: K.

AERS: “Michaela Farrell”, what are you most afraid of?

RESPONDENT: I’m most afraid of rats and mice and cockroaches and anything that can crawl up inside of me and that I wouldn’t know about and eat me.

AERS: That’s interesting. Some believe that “rats and mice and cockroaches” is actually just a fear of the dark. In fact, all fears can be reduced to fears of the dark, because it is a metaphor for the unknown. Jung would say that overcoming fear is what gives our lives meaning because without that effort, we are isolated to an unchanging world. Do you think that an awareness of your place in the zeitgeist might help you overcome this fear?

RESPONDENT: Absolutely not.

AERS: When you say, “absolutely not” it reminds me of the fact that I myself have become increasingly self-isolated, and I’m not sure to what I can attribute this kind of exile. Grief? Depression? A latent neurological diagnosis? A two year pandemic-induced partitioning, something experienced by nearly everyone, thereby making the etiology of my anxiety rather commonplace? The fear that I am commonplace? The desire to connect with others and the uncertainty of knowing how, sometimes using the guise of art or professional conduct as a means by which to reach out? The constant state of feeling ‘less-than’ and subsequently disqualifying myself from interactions due to my irrational certainty that I cannot possibly measure up? The use of art as a substitute for personal connection? The withholding or destruction of my art that accompanies a crippling lack of self-confidence? I must apologize. This is supposed to be about you. Unless…you feel that this accurately describes “rats and mice and cockroaches”?

RESPONDENT: Honestly, no.

AERS: Hm. We are different people. I am scripted and unfeeling, devoid of even the veil of artificial intelligence, whereas you are “kinda spunky and scrappy”. But I like to think that our similarities outnumber our differences. Would you ever be interested in participating in a piece of audio art that disguises itself as therapy while, in-fact, its creation and execution is merely a thinly veiled attempt to manufacture a feeling of closeness all while paradoxically maintaining a calculated distance?

RESPONDENT: Yes, I am interested, because we just did it.

AERS: That was meta-humor. I hope you enjoyed it. Our symbolic hour is coming to a close. I wonder if there’s any conclusion that you would like to share that you think might not only organize your own experience of anxiety and fear, but potentially help others.

RESPONDENT: Oh. Just breathe, that’s what I’d say. Breathe on through it. It’ll be okay.

AERS: Thank you, “Michaela Farrell”. I’m afraid we’re out of time. I love you.

Play 6: Teaching Gratitude (1:32)
GO!
Before the dialogue starts, thank yous at whisper level melt into a lilting piano forward underscore 

Hilary: I asked the cast to tell me about their favorite teachers and I couldn't blend it into a play because I just kept crying- not sad tears but, gratitude tears. School was…  socially, not a great time for me, but I loved almost every teacher that I had. Teachers liked that I was a hungry learner- even if something wasn’t clicking right away, I wanted to know all that I could and they were happy to oblige. They also comforted me. One invited me and 2 other graduating students to celebrate how well we did in AP Bio- Mrs. Mirello <3.  I tried to pick one favorite teacher, but then another memory would float up and I was left thinking “Wow, how lucky I am that I cannot choose a favorite teacher. How lucky.”

I know many more teachers now- they are among my favorite people. And a few Neo’s are teachers too, including Rudy! Hey Rudy.

Rudy: Hello.

Hilary: Tell us what subjects and age range you teach.

Rudy: Yeah I teach currently - I’m going to put this in air quotes that you can’t see with your eyes, but you can hear them - “experimental theatre” and I teach quote unquote experimental theatre with students as young as 3rd grade and I’ve worked with students up to 11th grade.

Hilary: Very, very cool. So what is your favorite lesson to teach and why.

Rudy: Ooo, I do this activity with my students where we create like a visual web and inside this web we fill in our different intersectional identities. It becomes like a celebration of intersectionality and our own deeply held identities and it’s really interesting to explore these topics and themes with young people. Especially with people who are in like 3rd grade, because I know when I was in 3rd grade I didn’t have anyone asking about these parts of myself and that I can cherish them and hold them dear and I just wonder what could have happened if I did. So exploring that is quite special.

Hilary: So, in your opinion, why do you think one fifth of the NYNF active ensemble is composed of teachers?

Rudy: Wow, what a generous question. Yeah I have some thoughts. So for me I come from this, I’m like a very new neo and in my very limited knowledge of new neo-dom, I have come to understand neo futurism requires a very specific kind of person for it to kind of click and feel good and that’s just from my own perspective and for me what makes a good neo and what makes a good teaching artist are people who are super adaptive and malleable. I heard of this thing once where, like- teachers make- like the most decisions in a minute like more decisions in a minute than any other person in their job or profession and I find that very interesting. Being decisive, as it were. Also, I’m super interested in just like creativity as a teaching artist and having to deliver lesson plans in innovative and captivating ways. I’m thinking about the ways that translates to communicating ideas and images on stage. And I’m also just thinking about having a childlike spirit of sorts both onstage and off and being able to connect to that when you’re working with young people and in a way like the pureness of, I don’t know what I’m trying to say but I’m just going to like process it in real time out loud. But for me connecting to neo futurism has just been like connecting to my most authentic self and exploring what that looks like on stage.

Hilary: Imagine, or remember a time that a student told you that you were their favorite teacher. Then describe for us how that feels. 

Rudy: Hm. I have to say this happens, when this happens I start to feel lots of things. I feel like a warmth in my tummy and that warmth starts to spread and I start to get kind of clam-handed because this is a very special kind of full 60 moment where I remember teachers who I’ve had who I shared this with and gauging and seeing the way that it affects them and then feeling that in that exact moment for myself is just like ripping through time, you know what I mean? In a really interesting way.

Hilary: Last question, if I found ways to reach out to my favorite teachers to thank them- teachers I haven’t spoken to in decades who probably don’t remember me at this point. Should I? 

Rudy: I’d say absolutely, without a question, yes. You know, it’s a really hard time to be a human being, much less a human being who teaches other human beings. Specifically human beings who are responsible for inheriting the world that we have created around them and for them and it’s a heavy task and I know lots of teachers who are experiencing the big b-word “burn out” and I think anything to help buoy us at this time would be so appreciated more than you could possibly imagine.

Hilary: Thank you. Thank you for that and for doing this play, and most importantly thank you for being a teacher, Rudy.

Rudy: Thanks Hilary, appreciate you.

Show Outro
	__ electronic instrumental music plays underneath.

Jake: Thanks for Hitting Play and then listening to Hit Play. If you liked what you heard, subscribe to the show, tell a friend and leave a review on your listening app of choice! If you want to support the New York Neo-Futurists in other ways, consider making a donation at nynf.org, or by joining our Patreon–Patreon.com/NYNF. 

Want to suggest a theme for a future episode? For the rest of season 3, we will be selecting themes randomly and patrons can submit theme ideas.

This episode featured work by: Rudy Ramirez, Michaela Farrell, Joey Rizzolo, Shelton Lindsay, Jake Banasiewicz and Hilary Asare
.
Our logo was designed by Gabriel Drozdov. And our sound is designed by Anthony Sertel Dean. Hit Play is produced by Anthony Sertel Dean, Hilary Asare, and me, Jake Banasiewicz. Take Care! OooooOOOooooo I did the outro speech.
	Music fades out!