Playwrights Horizons is sending us to heaven. The Off-Broadway theatre is hosting benefit reading of its hit 2013 play, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, June 1 and 2. The original cast of the Anne Washburn play, which also had music from the late Michael Friedman, is back for the anniversary performances.
Mr. Burns ran a decade ago at Playwrights Horizons, and has since been produced around the world. The New York Times named it one of the "25 Best American Plays Since Angels in America." It follows a group of friends, living after a pandemic event that takes down the entire electrical grid. To keep their spirits up, they retell the "Cape Feare" episode of The Simpsons from memory—the episode where Sideshow Bob tries to kill Bart Simpson but is distracted when the boy asks him to perform the entirety of Gilbert & Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore.
“A decade ago, the opening premise of Mr. Burns was shocking, a nightmarish alternate reality in which our world would suddenly collapse and face loss in unimaginable numbers," said Playwrights Horizons Artistic Director Adam Greenfield in an earlier statement. "Today, we've lived a version of this nightmare. As we continue building our lives back from the Covid years, and as we witness the painful, halting miracle of live theatre's rebirth, the play carries so many new resonances and unexpected truths. Considering that Anne Washburn's play has at this point been produced in cities all over the globe, and that our world has collectively experienced a massive Mr. Burns in real life, this is a 10-year anniversary to mark."
The reading features the original Off-Broadway cast, including Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Susannah Flood, Gibson Frazier, Matthew Maher, Nedra Marie Taylor, Jennifer R. Morris, Colleen Werthmann, and Sam Breslin Wright.
The reading is directed by Steve Cosson, who directed the original production and whose company The Civilians commissioned Mr. Burns. Kris Kukul music directs.
To purchase tickets, visit PlaywrightsHorizons.org. See images from the original production below.
