BWW Previews: Theatre [502] Goes Apocalyptic with MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY

The world, as we knew it, has ended.

Catastrophe has struck. The lights are out. (Nuclear meltdown? Possibly.) Few survivors remain. How do you pick up and move forward - and what do you take with you to write the new story of the world you create?

Playwright Anne Washburn answered this apocalyptic hypothetical by turning to a major source of our modern cultural mortar in 2012's darkly comic "Mr. Burns, a post-electric play," which receives its Louisville premiere this week from local champions of recent and relevant plays, Theatre [502].

In "Mr. Burns," survivors of a global cataclysm attempt to survive by recounting for each other the "Cape Feare" episode of "The Simpsons." Over the course of three acts, the survivors transform the paragons of pop ubiquity from a source of humor and succor into foundational elements of a new society. The play received its premiere in May 2012 from investigative theatre troupe The Civilians in Washington, D.C. and quickly appealed to Theatre [502[ for the way it suited itself to ideas the company has explored over the course of its four-year history.

"[502] has kind of become preoccupied with certain themes," said Gil Reyes, director of "Mr. Burns" and the company's co-artistic director. "In our mission to be 'recent and relevant,' a lot of that has come to us in the form of what is very different about our world now as compared to 10 years ago, 20 years ago - the idea that things are changing very quickly for humanity. One of the pieces of that is constant information - storytelling available on your phone - and the sharp contrast of the world of 'Mr. Burns' is the 'recent' for storytelling, for entertainment, that made it really appealing."

Themes of communication and the almost ironic staying power of typically ephemeral pop-cultural icons feed into Washburn's story of how society survives and changes. The remnants of humanity begin Act One around a campfire in classic primitive storytelling mode, then evolve to traveling performers and musicians over the course of the play. That evolution takes a single 30-minute installment of a television franchise (commercials included) and weaves it into the new culture's identity.

"It's this game of 'Telephone' that you wouldn't get in the electronic age," Reyes said. "Right now, if I wanted to do a live version of the 'Cape Feare' episode of 'The Simpsons,' I'd watch it, recreate it verbatim, and not miss a beat. But what you get without that access is a richer interpretation that eventually, in the third act, comes to encompass the story of how society fell. So the cataclysm becomes part of the 'Cape Feare' episode. The two narratives are woven together. And so that question of what could pop culture become and how important could it become in the future was one of those things that just drew us right in."

The question of what survives a society is one that must be asked, he said.

"There's this idea that the thing that survives from society to society is its art, and what are we producing that will survive is a question for me," he said. "Theatre [502] does second and third productions of plays. Those aren't necessarily the things that are going to have a life long, long into the future. They're going to have an impact now, but they're not always going to have that long life, whereas these pop culture things take hold and influence all parts of our society."

Reyes cited "The Simpsons" as a prime example of staying power, from the three-eyed Bart Simpson adorning the wall of the coffee shop setting of our interview to the "Simpsons" references he makes in daily life that he wasn't even aware were rooted in the show's 26-year history. The spectrum of Simpsons knowledge that spans from "passing" to "encyclopedic" has served conversations about the play ranging from audience to the actors themselves.

"We have a super-good balance in the cast of people less familiar and completely expert - Erica (McClure) and Lucas (Adams) - who have it all in their heads, ready to go," he said. "Little tiny references that no one else would catch, they catch. They act as that balance. I think it would be dangerous to have an artistic team on either side of the spectrum. We've got a good balance for that, and it does lead to those conversations, and it leads to the real-life scenario of trying to explain a cartoon through words."

That balance also led to specific artistic decisions that will differentiate [502]'s production from other iterations of the play. Reyes and company envisioned that images would remain from prior to the disaster, meaning that masks the characters fashion in honor of the characters for Act 3, set 75 years after the catastrophe, will closely resemble their inspiration.

With its probing look at change across time and how it affects those who must face it, "Mr. Burns" falls in line with recent Theatre [502] productions like Lucas Hnath's "Red Speedo" and Mat Smart's "The 13th of Paris" in examining how culture is changing, and how art is addressing it.

"I do think that redefining community is coming up more and more in theater and a lot of places," Reyes said. "We are seeing a shift from a very traditional family dynamic to smaller communities in our everyday lives. In the play, these people come together and protect each other. Even though this play doesn't focus on it, it's touched by it. It's still a dangerous world they live in. Food is going to be scarce. Good shelter is going to be scarce. There's going to be conflict. I love the idea that a community of people who want to entertain would still find a way to do that. I think that that's a beautiful thing, and that there would be a need for that that's eternal. It's just a beautiful idea."

Mr. Burns, a post-electric play

By Anne Washburn

Produced by Theatre [502]

Directed by Gil Reyes

Feb. 20-21, 27-28 at The Clifton Center

All shows 8 p.m.

For tickets and more information, go to http://www.theatre502.org/.

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