End of the world as they show it
Production uses pop culture references to emphasize the value of live performance
With the TV show The Simpsons as its starting point, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play may do what many in the theatre community hope to accomplish — bring non-theatre-goers to the theatre.
“Especially because of all the pop culture references, it’s going to appeal to a wide variety of people,” actor Keara Barnes said.
“And then its post-apocalyptic setting is going to appeal to a lot of people. As well, it’s a drama and a comedy, and it’s also a musical. It brings you along on this emotional journey while providing a lot of laughs. Everybody can enjoy some aspect of it.”
But Mr. Burns is much more than just a mash-up or riff on Homer Simpson and the gang.
Written by American Anne Washburn, the 2012 play received a Drama League Award nomination for outstanding production and was praised by The New York Times as “downright brilliant.”
It begins with a group of post-apocalypse (or “post-electric”) survivors trying to recall the specifics of a certain episode (Cape Feare from 1992) of the groundbreaking TV series. But the play turns into a rumination on the power of storytelling, memory, theatre, and art, and climaxes with a third-act musical.
“I love how each act is different, and there are new discoveries to be found as an actor with the characters in each act, and how they evolve through time,” Barnes said.
“And there’s not a lot of back-story. So you have to fill in the blanks yourself. But I think every actor likes to create an elaborate back-story for their character.”
The lack of information on the characters made casting a challenge, says director Madelyn Osborne.
“The first six months I was trying to figure out who these characters are, what was essential to the story, what could be layered on, how we were even going to do a casting call,” she said.
“Then we looked at what kind of costumes they would wear, and what kind of world they would live in; what kind of materials are even in this world, 80 years after the apocalypse?”
In addition to envisioning post-apocalyptic fashion (along with costume designer Melicia Zaini and production designer Johnny Hamilton), Osborne has teamed with Arts Umbrella to create a future world that begins the moment audiences enter the theatre lobby.
Composer/musical director Katerina Gimon is creating an original score that mashes up pieces of familiar pop hits, movie theme music, and TV melodies.
Osborne hadn’t heard of the play before producing company Little Mountain Lion Productions showed her the script, but was immediately hooked after a read-through.
“This play has a lot of creative aspects — it’s The Simpsons so it’s very fun and playful but there is also this dark world underneath it. A lot of people around the characters are dying.”
According to its website, Little Mountain Lion’s mandate is to present work that explores “the overlap between film and literature ... to incite dialogue between mediums, to encourage movie fans, book fans, and typical non-theatregoers to experience live theatre.”
Past productions include plays based on Kurt Vonnegut works; another written by former Marvel Comics writer Roberto Aguirre-Sasca, The Mystery Plays; and Love is for Superbeasts, a serial-killers-inlove piece by Vancouver playwright Mily Mumford.
“Within Mr. Burns, we see how important live theatre really is,” Osborne said.
“We’re constantly searching for a connection with other human beings, particularly now, when we’re so connected to our devices that we lose the actual connection to people around us. Theatre provides something that we can’t get in our everyday life necessarily. We’re allowed to watch raw emotion, and we can emote back, and interact with that.”