This article references a piece originally published on August 16, 2022 in Vox by Constance Grady. You can read the full interview here.

Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play has returned to the stage again at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in Garrison, New York, its first major revival in nearly ten years. Originally commissioned by The Civilians, the play premiered at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in 2012 and made its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons the following year.

To learn more about the new production, read Vox’s interview between Constance Grady and Anne Washburn on the creation of Mr. Burns, the show’s return to the stage, and how our perspective on it has shifted amid Covid-19. The show is an exhilarating exploration of how the pop culture of one era might evolve into the mythology of another, imagined through an apocalyptic future in which performers carry on stories of The Simpsons.

Anne describes the commission process with The Civilians below, and continues in the full article:

CG: Talk to me about the development process for this show. How did you build out the three acts?

AW: I wanted to start with getting a few actors in a room to remember a Simpsons episode, because that language of trying to remember something is so specific and wonderful and delightful. But I didn’t want to inconvenience my friends, the actors, for more than a day without paying them, and I didn’t know how long it would take. So I kind of sat on this idea for a couple of years.

And then I was talking with Steve Cosson, who is AD [artistic director] of The Civilians, this investigative theater group that I’m part of. He asked if I wanted to apply for a commission. So we [proposed Mr. Burns] for that, and the commission came with some development money.

So then we plunked this group of actors together in this weirdo rehearsal space in a bank vault underneath Wall Street, which was a free space that summer that was getting passed around.

CG: Very post-apocalypse.

Read the full interview here, and find tickets to this production here.

Extended Play is a project of The Civilians. To learn more about The Civilians and to access exclusive discounts to shows, visit us and join our email list at TheCivilians.org.