UM To Perform MR. BURNS: A POST-APOCALYPTIC PLAY In October

The University of Montana School of Theatre and Dance will present Anne Washburn's "Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play" Oct. 9-20.

This production, presented in the Montana Theatre on campus, kicks off the mainstage season for the University.

"Mr. Burns" is directed by Jadd Davis, a directing Master of Fine Arts candidate, as his first mainstage show at UM. Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9-12 and Oct. 16-19 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 12-13 and Oct. 19-20.

Tickets are $20 for general admission, $16 for seniors and $12 for UM students. They are available by calling the UMArts Box Office at 406-243-4581 between noon and 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday or online at http://www.umt.edu/theatredance.

Audience discretion is advised as "Mr. Burns" includes mature themes and content.

Shortly after an apocalyptic event, a group of survivors band together and begin to recount the episode "Cape Feare" from the television show "The Simpsons." The second act picks up with the same group seven years later, who have now formed a theatrical troupe that specializes in performing "Simpsons" episodes, commercials and all.

The final act is set 75 years in the future. The same episode of "The Simpsons," now a familiar myth, has been reworked into a musical pageant, with the plot, characters and morals repurposed to fit the artistic and dramatic needs of a culture still reeling from the destruction of civilization and the near extinction of humanity decades earlier.

"'Mr. Burns,' more than anything else," Davis said, "is a love letter to the power of the narrative and our human need to rally around our collective story. Where one story ends another begins - binding us together and flowing us forward to who knows where. It may be rife with raging darkness, but like every good story it also is punctuated with moments of the sublime."

A complete schedule of UM School of Theatre and Dance productions for the academic year is available online at http://www.umt.edu/umarts/theatredance/Season/default.php.

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