A Study Guide for
Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play
By Anne Washburn
Setting: The World of Mr. Burns
-Act One is set in the very near future,
-Act Two is set seven years after the end
of Act One
-Act Three is set 75 years after the end
of Act Two
Mr. Burns is a modern day play that tells
a story of how ordinary people cope in
a world without electricity and running
water. It is a tale of how the art of storytelling literally becomes one of their
greatest assets of survival.
Characters in the Play
In Order of Appearance
• MATT
• JENNY
• MARIA
• SAM
• COLLEEN
• GIBSON
• QUINCY
• EDNA
NOTE: The actors in Mr. Burns will each
play several characters through the play.
Theatre Etiquette
-This show will have one 15 minute
intermission; there will be a time for
bathroom breaks before and half-way
through the show.
-The actors can hear you! While they
appreciate your laughter, gasps and
quiet engagement in the show, talking,
and moving, eating or opening candy
wrappers is very distracting and can
pull focus from the stage. Don’t be that
person. Nobody likes that person.
-Pictures, phone calls, texting, snap
chatting and really anything that could
take you, your classmates or an actor’s
attention off the stage is disrespectful
and prohibited. Theatre is a place that
you get to live in the moment and experience whatever is happening on stage
for the first time with a community of
people around you. Sit back, relax and
enjoy the show.
Synopsis: What You’re About to See
Act One
Due to a catastrophic nuclear-plant failure the United States experiences a
devastating hit that destroys the country’s electrical grid. A few months after the
disaster, a group of five survivors- Matt, Jenny, Colleen, Sam, and Maria- gather
around a camp fire to recount a Simpsons episode entitled “Cape Feare,” an episode which ends with a musical homage to Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore.
While the survivors are attempting to remember the events of
this specific episode they begin to quarrel about what actually
happened. Everyone seems to remember different parts of it
and gets it confused with other episodes. While disagreeing
about who said what, they get interrupted by another survivor,
Gibson, who is looking for safe passage and shelter. Gibson
presents them with information about what has been happening
outside of their camp. He recalls stories of destruction, evacuation and the fall of power plants. It has become a custom
to keep a journal of names of loved ones or people you have
crossed paths with since the disaster occurred and compare
notes with anyone you meet in hopes to find out any information about them. After they have gone through their list of
names they continue on with their previous conversation about
“Cape Feare.” Gibson is accepted into their group and reveals he is an member
of an amatuer Gilbert and Sullivan society, and to prove it, finishes the act by
singing a song from Gilbert and Suillivan’s The Mikado.
Act Two
Now, it is seven years later and the same group of people have established their
own theatre company in which they perform a small repertoire of Simpsons
episodes, cut together with “commercials” about luxuries from the past, that the
audience is sure to get nostalgic about. This group of actors, we learn, is just
one group of people
performing Simpsons episodes. Other
companies have been
formed and lines from
these episodes have
become currency.
Each troupe pays the
audience members
that can remember the lines accurately and then are able to obtain exclusive
rights to these lines. They are living in a world where the accuracy of these lines
and the ability to keep an audience entertained becomes a life or death situation.
If the show folds then the company will disband and be forced to venture out on
their own, in a society suffering from food shortage and dangerous criminals. By
the end of Act Two several members of the troupe are killed by an unseen group
of people that attack them from out of the blue. This just goes to show that society is nowhere near from recovering after the outage.
Act Three
75 years have passed and what started as a simple camp fire story has graduated
to a full out epic opera. Simpsons characters, Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Mr.
Burns (the evil owner of the nuclear
power plant) now tell a hybrid story of
old episodes topped off with an apocalyptic past and their journey through it.
Referring to the events of act one, the
characters reenact the story of “Cape
Feare” while at the same time recounting the history of the past several
decades, and naming the people killed
in the nuclear meltdown. The characters
attempt to restore the cultural values
About the Playwright
The Simpsons 101
Anne Washburn was awarded a grant from the NYSCA in 2008 to write Mr. Burns. She is a member
of “The Civilians”, which is an investigative theatre
group, that collaborated with other members to recall
Simpsons episodes as best they could in order to create a story about storytelling. They were encouraged
to remember as accurately as possible but to do what
we humans always we do when we forget something,
make it up. This way the story remained as truthful as
it could to those recounting it. Washburn was aiming
to take a pop culture narrative and see how it diminished or evolved after the fall of Civilization.
Matt Groening is the creator of the animated sitcom, The Simpsons, that broadcasts on Fox. It is a series satirizing the portrayal
of an all American working class family that consists of Homer,
Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson. They hail from the
fictional town of “Middle America” Springfield where their community tends to parody American culture, society and trends.
The Simpsons debuted on December 17, 1989 and has broadcast
596 episodes since. Also, it has been renewed for its 28th season
in September 2016. This series is the longest running American
sitcom and animated program. It has received widespread critical
acclaim and dozens of awards.
Anne Washburn graduated with her MFA from New
York University. She is a member of 13P, The Civilians
and New Georges. Washburn is an award winning
playwright who also wrote The Internationalist, A
Devil at Noon, The Ladies and a trans-adaptation of
Euripides’ Orestes. A few of the places her work has
been produced are Clubbed Thumb, Soho Rep, The
Cherry Lane, and Two River Theater.
Main Characters from the TV Series/Archetypes
Homer Simpson- the father, works at a nuclear power plant,
buffoonish, the holy fool
Marge Simpson- stereotypical housewife and mother, loving, in
charge of keeping everyone in
line
Bart Simpson – son, trickster, troublemaker, has a good heart but
is constantly a menace
Lisa Simpson- daughter, smart, an activist
Maggie Simpson– baby, only communicates by sucking on her
pacifier (Maggie is not a character in the play Mr. Burns)
Mr. Burns – maniacal owner of the Springfield Power Plant and
Homer’s boss, sinister, a miser
Questions to think about after the show
1. Why do you think Anne Washburn chose this particular pop-culture phenomenon to base her play
around? What about the Simpsons make them universal characters?
2. How does the act of storytelling tie into the character’s survival?
3. How does the plot change in “Cape Feare” from the first to the third act? Why is this change so significant?
4. Do you think the third act solely performed as an operetta is affective? Why or why not?
5. If an apocalypse occurred now, what stories would you try to keep alive? What makes them necessary
for the future?
6. If you lost all access to television or literature, what stories would you try and keep alive for yourself
and your friends? What other cultural touchstones can you imagine trying to keep alive? The Whip/
Nae Nae? The Gettysburg Address? All 7 of the Harry Potter Novels?
7. What are some skills that a performer would need to execute this show? What are some topics you
could research that would help you understand the emotional brevity of it?
8. The actors in the theatre group “The Civilians” collaborated with Anne Washburn help write this script.
What are some ways you collaborate with your classmates and how effective of a team player are you?
Why is that important?
9. “Cape Feare” evolves a lot from Act 1 to Act 3. What are elements of the story that change and what
about the style of the piece changes?
10.Imagine having to connect with and depend on strangers for your survival. Think about the trust that
comes along with forming a crucial bond to them without any knowledge of their past. What other
types of relationships are formed like that? For example: joining the military or being a new member of
a surgical team.