Mr. Burns Makes Way Onto Centenary Stage

Christopher J. Young, general manager of Centenary Stage Company, gears up with his cast and crew for the opening of Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play on Thursday, Oct. 16. The production will begin their first of eight performances, over two weekends, in The Edith Kutz Black Box Theatre in the Lackland Center. 

On Tuesday, Sept. 23, Young discussed the show itself, his vision, and how much he and his cast are excited to bring this production to Centenary’s stage in an exclusive interview with a Cyclone Chronicle staff member. As Mr. Burns gets closer and closer to stepping onto that stage, he has been busy.

“It always feels too fast. I think Carl Wallnau, our artistic director, says it all the time. You use exactly the amount of rehearsal that you have. And I think you always feel like you need one more week,” said Young.

Well, with Mr. Burns nearly two weeks out, the cast and crew are well on their way. Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play runs from October 16 to 26, with a 7 p.m. showing both Thursdays, 8 p.m. both Fridays and Saturdays, and a 2 p.m. matinee on both Sundays. 

A Post, Electric Story

Besides the common notion that this show is just about the famed yellow, cartoon nuclear family, according to Young, this production takes a deeper dive into theatre, society, and pop culture as we see it today.

“Well, I think that the use of the Simpsons is sort of like the device for the expert, the much larger exploration,” said Young. “How do our stories transcend? How do they change overtime? How do we reinvent them later on?”

Mr. Burn’s playwright, Anne Washburn, was commissioned to write a play, to which she wanted to explore that very idea. Questioning how our pop culture changes over time, does it survive; does it transcend; does it turn into something else?

As Young read more of the show, the more interested he became with this idea, and how much the show stood out compared to others.

“We try to balance it all out, so that we're challenging everybody, in different ways,” said Young. “It is that kind of unconventional. In terms of its style, it's a style piece. So that kind of helps us. It creates a nice blend for the students, and they get to work on something that's a little out there.”

The Cast and Crew

Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play, casts some recurring Centenary thespians, along with some new faces to the Centenary Stage.

This cast includes:

Daniel Paternina playing Matt who takes on the role of Homer as well as Scratchy

Aurelia Shanga playing Jenny who plays Marge

Katie O’Shea playing Maria who plays as Lisa

Malakii Layton as Sam playing Bart

Raelyn Menon as Colleen and Itchy

Daniel Richarme who plays Gibson as Sideshow Bob

Erin Clark as Quincy who plays Business woman

Sand Morales as Edna Krabappel

James Kaminski as Mr. Burns

Grace Kafka performing as Bart

Along with Emily Young and Kylie Smith, assistant directors; Mark Squindo, music director; Mads Rhine, choreographer; and Taylor Albrecht, stage manager; the cast and crew of Mr. Burns sets off to bring this story to life on the Centenary Stage.

Leaping from Cape Feare

While this show is based on the Simpsons’ second episode of season five, “Cape Feare,” it takes a bold jump for the original episode. It is not a full reenactment, but rather a recollection of the story and other references to television and commercials of the time.

“I went back and rewatched the actual episode of the Simpsons, because I think it's important to understand what all those references are,” said Young. “Beyond Cape Fear and the Simpsons, there are a ton of references throughout the play, pop culture references from music selection to lines of dialogue, that specifically reference commercials.”

The story itself follows a group of six people talking around a campfire remembering “Cape Feare” and talking about the different jokes made throughout the original episode. As they talk, they come to realize that they are not actually out camping.

Instead, this group is made up of survivors, looking to distract themselves from the rest of the world that has collapsed from an apocalyptic event. But as the next two acts take place, audiences see the evolution from a group of survivors remembering to a make-shift theatre troupe that has begun to perform the episode to the audiences of the post-apocalyptic world.

Then, the third act takes this evolution even further as the story itself jumps to 75 years into the future.

“Now it's not really even Cape Fear anymore, but the artists of that time have created a musical,” explained Young. “They are now using elements of the Simpsons’ character names and this same idea is how many playwrights and actors look at Greek dramas and comedies. It is their interpretation through performance to display how they relate to society today.

“It's very much like a Greek tragedy right now. We perform Greek tragedy as we think it was,” said Young. “But to them at that time, that was pop culture, right?”

Not A Meaning, But A Journey

In being asked what the message of this show was, he took a long moment to think and gave an interesting response.

“Um, well, I don't really know,” said Young. “I think the play is an exploration. And I think, really, what I want is for people to go on that ride. Because it's an exploration about how, like something that we sort of maybe shrug off as like, ‘oh, it’s The Simpsons, whatever,’ can actually change over time and impact the future.”

The story of Mr. Burns does not have an outright message that an audience should hear or gain an understanding of, but rather a journey for an audience to experience.

Especially in today’s world, while many may not even consider it, the world did go through an “apocalyptic” event not even 5 years ago.

“I think it was an unconventional version of an apocalypse,” said Young. “Our pop culture paints the apocalypse a certain way. You always think like Mad Max, right? But I think the reality of apocalyptic or something that is apocalyptic is different than that. I think we were much closer to it, if not sort of, kind of in a version of it, during COVID. And I find a lot of things through this play as we work a lot of things that are very like, ‘Oh, yeah, that reminds me of COVID.’”

And as we all know, COVID always finds a way to creep back in. Even though it has been over five years since the initial lock down here in the U.S., entertainment as a whole has taken a heavy hit due to the lockdown, but it has also  given a greater appreciation to entertainment, especially theatre.

While reading through Mr. Burns for the first time, Young found himself finding many similarities between the story’s purpose and plot, to the many experiences and effects coming from COVID.

“I think it's just… I don't want to say a love letter, but it's a send up to the power of storytelling and of theater as an art form and how even in post-apocalyptic society, theater as an art form has survived,” said Young. “It continues to evolve and change and have meaning, regardless of whether that meaning is just solely entertainment or not, which is actually an argument in the play.”

A Love Letter to Pop Culture

Despite the overall dismal atmosphere that comes with Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play, there are plenty of moments of comedy and thoughtful insight. Besides the fact that it centers around the famous Simpsons’ episode, it has a long list of references towards ______ of pop culture– television, entertainment, and product placement.

“It's super important as the director, to understand what all those references are, so that you can help your cast understand,” said Young. “For most of these references, our cast members were not even born yet. There is one commercial where all they sing is zoom, zoom, zoom. And it's from an old Mazda commercial. It's just littered with all these different pop culture references and callbacks to different things that we know and recognize today.” 

Awaiting Mr. Burns Arrival

Young and his cast are now just two weeks away from Mr. Burns, hard at work on their set, costumes, and stage for the debut on October 16.

For more info on the production, where to find tickets, or dates for Centenary’s Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play, go to CentenaryStageCo.org and click right on the Mr. Burns post right at the top of the screen. And remember tickets for Centenary students are only $5!