Mr. Burns

Director Mindy Cooper, University of Granada artist-in-residence, explains that “Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play,” now on stage at the UC Davis Wright Hall Main Theatre, is playwright Anne Washburn’s exploration of a post-apocalyptic society, questioning what survives and what doesn’t, and how things change.

Using the backdrop of the popular “Simpsons” episode “Cape Feare,” the play, sometimes clearly, sometimes muddily, takes us through a dystopian society that has undergone great destruction and shows how the survivors cope.

The play is structured into three scenes: shortly after the event (whatever it was) takes place, the second seven years later and the third 75 years later.

It’s difficult not to think of Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451″ when watching the first scene. In that classic work of science fiction, all the books in the world are burned, but a small group of dedicated readers survives and each has memorized his or her favorite book and is now teaching it to a younger person, so the story can continue.

In “Mr. Burns,” five survivors are gathered around a campfire (there is no electricity) and they begin to recreate their favorite Simpsons episode, “Cape Feare,” in which Sideshow Bob stalks Bart Simpson with threats to kill him (people who make lists place this 1989 episode as No. 2 in the top 10 “Simpsons” episodes). For the newly displaced and shell-shocked survivors, it’s a bit of normalcy that helps them push away their fears … for the moment.

Matt (Matt Skinner) and Jenny (Leah Daugherty) lead off, yelling lines at each other, as they try to get the show in sequence, with the nervous Maria (Rose Kim) reacting in delight.

Interrupting the fun of the group is a new arrival, Gibson (Ryan Gerberding), who has been traveling across the country assessing the damage. The action takes a very somber tone as they learn which cities he has visited and bring out their book of lists to ask if, maybe, somehow, he has come across one of their loved ones.

Eventually Gibson, too, joins the others in remembering a beloved television episode.

Others in this group include Delaney Leigh McCowan as Colleen and Zach Padio as Sam. These six actors will continue to take similar roles in the subsequent two scenes.

Over time, this “Simpsons” episode takes on almost cult status, first seven years later (in the most muddled of the three scenes) as performed by one of many groups of “Simpsons” episode re-enactors. Their performance includes reminiscing about food and drink they once had (“at this point all I care about my imaginary alcohol is that it is aged”), obsessing on where Diet Cokes have gone (“I know a guy in Wichita who has a stash of Diet Cokes and do you know what he’s selling them for? Lithium batteries. Two a can.”) and comparing their productions of the “Simpsons” episode with other companies’ productions.

Gerberding takes on the role of a menacing Sideshow Bob in this scene while Padio becomes Bart, Skinner is Homer, Kim is Marge (carrying the blue Marge Simpson wig instead of wearing it), and Daugherty is Lisa. In this scene, the cast is also joined by Danika Burmester, in-law of the legendary Davis theater family, as Quincy/Wife (and Edna Crabapple in Scene 3).

After 75 years, “Cape Feare” has become a full-blown cult classic, with the menacing character now Mr. Burns, rather than Sideshow Bob (Gerberding again). This scene adds a host of new characters, the Nuclear Family Players, and music by Graham Sobelman (musical director) and Aaron Molho (for some reason, the music also includes excerpts from Gilbert and Sullivan).

This is not a show for everyone. It has the feel of a cult classic and “Simpsons” fans will love it, while non-“Simpsons” fans may find parts of it funny, but perhaps not get all the “in” jokes and references to the original.

The script assumes that the audience is already familiar with not only the major characters but also the minor characters, like Itchy and Scratchy and Apu. This may be why there was so little laughter in the audience, though encouraged at the start of the play to laugh loudly.

If you can find a copy of the original “Cape Feare” episode, I suspect it would greatly enhance enjoyment of this play.

Mr. Burns

 

(From L to R) Amanda Salazar, Katie Rubin, Jouni Kirjola,
Dena Martinez, John P. Lamb, Elizabeth Holzman

Remember “Fahrenheit 451,” when all the books had been destroyed and a little enclave of people, each of whom had memorized a specific book, were teaching that book to a young person so that the words could continue?

That’s kind of how Anne Washburn’s “Mr. Burns: a Post Electric Play,” now at Capital Stage,  begins. There has been a great apocalyptic event and much of the world has been destroyed. Survivors are finding each other in small groups.

The show, directed by new Artistic Director Michael Stevenson, opens around a fire where a group of survivors tries to remember “Cape Feare,” their favorite “Simpsons” episode, in which Sideshow Bob stalks Bart Simpson with threats to kill him. For the shell-shocked survivors, it’s a bit of normality that helps them push away their fears … for the moment.

Matt (John P. Lamb) and Jenny (Katie Rubin) lead off, yelling lines at each other, as they try to get the show in sequence, with the nervous Maria (Dena Martinez) reacting in delight.

In an interview, Washburn explained that in trying to brainstorm ideas for a script, “We tasked the writers with remembering ‘Simpsons’ episodes, and the dialogue around the remembering of the episode in the first act is largely verbatim from these sessions.”

Interrupting the delight of the group is a new arrival, Gibson (Kirk Blackinton) who has been traveling across the country assessing the damage. The action takes a very somber tone as they learn which cities he has visited and bring out their book of lists to ask if, maybe, somehow, he has come across one of their loved ones.

Eventually Gibson, too, joins in the delight of remembering a beloved television episode.

Joining Lamb, Rubin, Blackinton and Martinez in this top-notch cast are Jouni Kirjola as Sam, Tiffanie Mack as Colleen, Amanda Salazar as Quincy and Elizabeth Holzman as Mrs. Krabappel.

This is a show that will delight fans of “The Simpsons” and perhaps confuse those who don’t know the popular cartoon. It is riddled with references to the cartoon and to the movie “Cape Fear,” on which the episode is based. As someone who only watched the show in the first couple of seasons (there have been 28 seasons!), I know I missed a lot of the references at which many in the audience laughed.

The enigmatic second act, taking place seven years after Act 1, finds a post-apocalyptic theater company rehearsing a show, which includes reminiscing about food and drink they once had (“at this point all I care about my imaginary alcohol is that it is aged”), obsessing on where Diet Cokes have gone (“I know a guy in Wichita who has a stash of Diet Cokes and do you know what he’s selling them for? Lithium batteries, two a can”) and comparing their productions of “Simpsons” episodes with another company’s productions.

The high point in this act is the parody of “The Simpsons” theme song.

If Act 2 left many of us scratching our heads trying to figure out its meaning, Act 3 brought it all together in a fully staged all-musical version of “Cape Feare,” where Sideshow Bob has, for some unexplained reason, become Homer Simpson’s boss, Mr. Burns, a tour-de-force performance by Kirjola (with face makeup reminiscent of Batman’s Joker). Salazar, too, shines as Bart, with Martinez in a lovely Marge wig and Rubin showing all the spunk of Lisa.

Special mention should be made of Jonathan Williams’ set design which, particularly in Act 3, seems identical to the cartoon. Gail Russell must have had a great time designing all those marvelous costumes!

This is not a show for everyone. The script assumes that the audience is already familiar with not only the major “Simpsons” characters but also the minor ones, like Itchy and Scratchy and Apu.
Still, love it or not, there is no denying that the actors give outstanding performances. If “The Simpsons” is your cup of tea, you don’t want to miss this one.

Playwright Washburn perhaps rightly predicts that were we to find ourselves in a similar situation today what we would cling to is not the Bible or Shakespeare, but popular cartoon characters to anchor our memories to a previous, happier time.