Mr. Burns, a Post Electric Play

In the aftermath of a catastrophic collapse of the electrical grid, a group of survivors gathers around a campfire, trying to remember an episode of The Simpsons. With the world they once knew gone, familiar jokes, half-remembered dialogue, and fragments of popular culture become a way to pass the time, find comfort, and hold on to something resembling normalcy. Set against a world evocative of Appalachia, where communities are separated by vast stretches of wilderness and stories have long been passed down through generations, Mr. Burns explores the ways we preserve and reshape our collective memory. Seven years after the collapse, a traveling theatre troupe makes a living performing reconstructed television episodes, commercials, and pop songs for communities learning to survive without the conveniences of modern life. Seventy-five years later, those same stories have evolved into a mythology all their own, where the familiar becomes folklore and entertainment takes on the weight of ritual. Darkly funny, haunting, and unexpectedly moving, Mr. Burns, a Post Electric Play blends music, movement, and ensemble storytelling to explore what remains when the world goes dark. Drawing inspiration from Appalachian traditions of oral history, folk music, and communal storytelling, this production examines how stories change with each telling, how communities find meaning in the things they've lost, and what we choose to carry forward when everything else has disappeared. The production is based at The Lenfest Center for the Arts in New York, NY.