Mr. Burns and Other Plays

Anne Washburn

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781559367943
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

- Mr. Burns received its world premiere at Wooly Mammoth Theatre Company in 2012, and its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons in fall 2013 to critical acclaim: "Downright brilliant." — New York Times
- A paean to live theater and The Simpsons, popular with young audiences.
- Washburn has been commissioned by The Civilians, Soho Rep, the Williamstown Theater Festival, and Yale, is a member of 13P and The Civilians, and a New Georges affiliated artist.
- Her plays have been produced across the country and in London.
- One of the most exciting new voices in the American theatre.

MR. BURNS

A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY

Play and lyrics by Anne Washburn

Original score by Michael Friedman

PRODUCTION HISTORY

Mr. Burns was commissioned by The Civilians (Steve Cosson, Artistic Director) and developed in partnership with The Civilians, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Playwrights Horizons. It had its world premiere at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Howard Shalwitz, Artistic Director; Jeffrey Herrmann, Managing Director) in Washington, DC, on June 1, 2012. It was directed by Steve Cosson. The set design was by Misha Kachman, the costume design was by Frank Labovitz, the lighting design was by Colin K. Bills, the original musical score was by Michael Friedman, the sound design was by Elisheba Ittoop, and the choreography was by Diane Coburn Bruning; the musical director was Jonathan Tuzman, the dramaturg was Miriam Weisfeld, and the stage manager was William E. Cruttenden III. The cast was:

MATT/HOMER	Steve Rosen
JENNY/LISA	Kimberly Gilbert
MARIA/ITCHY	Jenna Sokolowski
SAM/MR. BURNS	James Sugg
COLLEEN/MARGE	Amy McWilliams
GIBSON/HOMER	Chris Genebach
QUINCY/BART	Erika Rose

Mr. Burns had its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director; Carol Fishman, General Manager) on September 15, 2013. It was directed by Steve Cosson. The set design was by Neil Patel, the costume design was by Emily Rebholz, the lighting design was by Justin Townsend, the original musical score was by Michael Friedman, the sound design was by Ken Travis, the choreography was by Sam Pinkleton, the mask and wig design were by Sam Hill, and the special effects design was by Jeremy Chernick; the musical director was Mike Brun and the production stage manager was Kyle Gates. The cast was:

MATT/SCRATCHY	Matthew Maher
JENNY/MARGE	Jennifer R. Morris
SAM/MR. BURNS	Sam Breslin Wright
COLLEEN/LISA	Colleen Werthmann
GIBSON/HOMER	Gibson Frazier
QUINCY/BART	Quincy Tyler Bernstine
SUSANNAH/ITCHY	Susannah Flood
EDNA KRABAPPEL	Nedra McClyde
MUSICIAN	Mike Brun

NOTES ON THE PLAY

In 2008 I was commissioned by The Civilians, an investigative theater group based in NYC, to work on an idea I’d been wondering about for years: What would happen to a pop culture narrative pushed past the fall of civilization?

For a week that summer, director Steve Cosson and I hunkered in a disused bank vault/free rehearsal space deep under Wall Street with Civilians’ actors Quincy Bernstine, Maria Dizzia, Gibson Frazier, Matt Maher, Jenny Morris, Sam Wright, and Colleen Werthmann.

We tasked them with remembering Simpsons’ episodes, and the dialogue around the remembering of the episode in The First Act (and the small section of the episode rehearsed in The Second Act) is largely verbatim from those sessions.

It should be noted that the characters in this play bear at best a passing, and in many cases none whatsoever, resemblance to the actors initially involved in the project.

—AW

CHARACTERS

In order of appearance:

MATT

JENNY

MARIA

SAM

COLLEEN

GIBSON

QUINCY

EDNA

NOTES ON TIME

This play is set in the very near future

then seven years after that

then seventy-five years after that

2323__perlego__chapter...