"Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play" marches on, despite a change in directors

After a sudden change in directors, Kenan Theatre Company will present "Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play" starting April 11. The new director hopes that, despite time issues, the play will present a complicated apocalyptic world.

Aubrey Snowden replaced Jason Tyne-Zimmerman for the production of "Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play," with limited issues. Snowden and the cast and crew, though working with time constraints, have worked together through the obstacles. 

“I think meeting those challenges together as an acting company and then the crew, it feels like we’ve cultivated a really great sense of community for this production, which I really think does then translate to the work that happens on stage,” Snowden said.

The play is separated into three acts with three different locations in three different time periods. Nellie Wise, the set designer, said the set transforms from act to act with a tarp fabric falling down at the end of the first act, and the wall collapsing at the end of the second.

"Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play" contains many pop culture references, the most prominent being The Simpsons, especially the episode "Cape Feare." The main characters at the beginning of the play try to remember the episode, and in the last act, those characters reenact the episode in an operatic format.

Gage Tarlton, the actor playing both Gibson and Millhouse, fell in love with the play because of the story, and how it really captures modern theater and where theater is going. 

“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done,” Tarlton said.

Tarlton mentioned that the actors, due to them working with a musical director at the beginning of the play’s production, never met with the previous director. Tarlton personally was excited by the change due to his previous knowledge of Snowden’s work. 

“When I heard that she was the one taking over, I was over the moon about it because I’ve seen what she does with an ensemble piece and this play is an ensemble piece,” Tarlton said. “So I knew that she was more than capable of accomplishing what she needed to do and she has. I’ve loved working with her.”

Wise worked with the previous director and said the play went through some changes due to the differences in visions. Snowden wanted to add a specific fabric to the play to highlight the issue of climate change that Washburn had pictured within the costume design. 

“Aubrey definitely wanted to focus on the idea of plastic and how plastic is so enduring that it doesn’t go away, it doesn’t decompose,” Wise said. “So there’s a lot, especially in the costumes of elements that are plastic, and Jason honestly really didn’t focus on that so much.” 

Wise said even though there were some changes, like Zimmerman’s vision to make the play “super scary,” due to the time constraint, not every part of Zimmerman’s vision was lost. 

“We had to, in some ways, merge some ideas and Aubrey was super flexible with that,” Wise said.

The play, which is focused around pop culture and climate change, will introduce the different drama of modern theater and will run from April 11 to April 15.

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