THD Production Spotlight: "Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play"

By ALEX NOVAK

“This is a show about a group of survivors trying to create community and civilization after the fall of everything we know,” Paige Kent, cast member and a junior communication major, said. “How do we navigate loss, trauma and being human? What stories will we tell around the campfire of the apocalypse?”

Kent’s ominous self-proclaimed “elevator pitch” for THD’s production of Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play — which runs Thursday, Mar. 7 through Sunday, Mar. 10 in the Center for the Arts (CFA) Black Box Theatre — provides only a small glimpse into the distorted reality of this unusual, compelling show.

In a post-apocalyptic world, a group of survivors entertain themselves by recalling an episode of the popular animated TV sitcom “The Simpsons” called “Cape Feare.” Despite having varying degrees of knowledge about the show, the characters develop a traveling theatre troupe wherein they reenact the episode. This eventually descends into lunacy, leading to shootouts with prop guns, sword fights on a boat, and the performance of a collection of 90s-2000s pop music numbers. Unpredictability is plentiful. Mr. Burns disregards a lot of the rules that audiences expect a play to follow.

“It's such an ensemble show, and I feel like everyone knows what their part is,” Kent said. “It's a beast.”

“The show has so many elements that are very unique compared to other plays,” Larisa Rivera-Vasquez, cast member and a junior theatre and political science major, said. “The third act is majority, I would say 98%, singing.”

Setting aside the pressures of performing what is essentially a jukebox musical within a play, the production also offered new opportunities for theatre technology students to shine. Set designer and sophomore theatre technology major Sheila Fastoff created a multi-tiered set with woodland elements, grass, ladders and stairs, as well as two massive, movable units: a life-sized, hot pink car and a houseboat complete with stuffed piranhas.

“I wanted to include functionality in my set design,” Fastoff said. “And that was also part of the story because it has to do with people surviving during the apocalypse. Under the heights of the platforms is our car storage, houseboat and so on. The entire space is designed to the stories.”

This black comedy and suspenseful drama mashup might hit close to home for audiences, given that our own world was recently rocked by what felt like an apocalypse during the COVID-19 pandemic. And also because the play was originally written to be set in the distant future of…October 2024, which is now only months away.

“It’s something that could be a reality; it's very timely. There's a lot of panic, a lot of anxiety in the world today,” Kent said. “The show is a comment on that and what we can do moving forward.”

“We’re going to give you the most interesting concept of pop culture and how it affects society,” Fastoff said. “It’s in a moment that was so similar to what we all went through recently with COVID. So I think it would be a personal play to see, but one that’s also a lot of fun.”

Freelance writer Alex Novak is a senior English major, with a minor in theatre performance.