Review: “Mr. Burns” Cleverly Evokes Questions of Humanity’s Future

Olivia Silvey ’25

Editor-in-Chief

“Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play,” a three-act play/operetta taken on by Trinity College’s Theater and Dance Department, tackles ideas of continuity, human survival and art’s role in society through varying degrees of a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Luckily, Trinity’s production didn’t leave me with too much despair of the future given its humorous delivery, enchanting costumes and, most notably, a wonderful a capella performance of “Side to Side” by Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj (among other top hits). 

The musical, directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick and assistant directed by Kathleen Kelly ’26, is divided into three distinct acts. The first takes place one year after a nuclear apocalypse, the second is seven years after that and Act 3 adds another 75 years. The first two acts center around a group of survivors who, after spending most of the first act recreating old episodes of “The Simpsons,” travel as a theater group reenacting the same episodes to make a living in Act 2. After the intermission, the audience is beckoned from Trinity’s black box theater, Garmony, into Goodwin Theater for Act 3, where a completely new set of characters perform their interpretation of a Simpsons episode derived from the former theater troupe’s book of shows. 

“Mr. Burns,” a black comedy, was originally written by Anne Washburn (music by Michael Friedman) and first premiered in 2012. The major ideas that the script grapples with are pertinent, especially with the current national/global discussions of what history and artifacts should be remembered, and which shouldn’t, as the current presidential administration cuts museum funds. While I was never a huge fan of “The Simpsons,” the choice to center the musical around such a culturally renowned series made sense; in Act 3, as the performers are effectively worshipping the characters of the show, especially Bart, the audience is forced to consider how we have interpreted our own artifacts (what comes to mind first is the Bible, of course) and how we have created meaning from those items. 

I struggled with the script’s ability to world-build — there were many instances where I wasn’t convinced of the reality the characters were surviving in. For example, when a stranger, Gibson (Alex Goirus ’26), crashes the group’s bonfire in Act 1, everyone immediately begins the ritual of reading 10 names of loved ones from a notebook, presumably to see if Gibson had come across them in his travels. With only a year having gone by of an apocalyptic event decimating the globe, it was hard to imagine that a norm like this had already solidified itself into a disjointed society. Another moment I felt this was in Act 3, when this sacrilegious performance was taking place only 75 years after the theater troupe — it was difficult to believe that an understanding of the world less than a lifetime before was so twisted. 

Regardless of some of the script’s difficulties, the actors delivered an engaging performance, even in dialogue-heavy acts 1 and 2. Within the first five minutes, Matt (Aleem Ogunsanya ’26) had the audience cackling at his impersonation of Bart receiving death threats, and Gibson’s rendition of “Three Little Maids from School Are We” was the hardest I’ve laughed in a while. There were heavy moments, too — Colleen (Marie Naka ’26) brought the audience to a despairing hush when conversing with the troupe about how to survive in the cutthroat performance landscape (notably, Naka was also responsible for arranging the multiple impressive a cappella numbers performed by the cast in Act 2). The actors effectively created uneasy tension during Gibson’s frantic rant about the state of the world; Jenny’s (Aila Farrell ’28) frantic yells while Quincy’s (Mary East ’27) and Maria’s (Lily Mellitz ’26) muffled sobs made the moment all-too-real. Sam (Justin White ’28) was the steady, sometimes-awkward stoic figure in the first two acts, which made White’s performance as the grotesque, terrifying Mr. Burns in Act 3 a pleasant surprise. 

Given the drastic difference between the first two acts and the third in terms of setting and story, I wasn’t surprised when I found Act 3 harder to follow. The costumes and set (designed by Calypso Michelet) were deliciously striking, especially Act 3’s gas masks and long garments worn by the vocal chorus. My jaw dropped to the floor when Nelson (CJ Limjap ’28) rapped between verses seemingly without taking a breath. The singing, particularly by Edna (Mya White ’25), Bart (Brayden Esler ’27) and Lisa (Sydney Yu ’25), carried this part of the show, led by musical director Spencer Reese. The interludes of dancing by the dance corps, made up of Bella Chirkis ’27, Kenna Harrison ’26, Tiffany Huang ’26 and Amanda Rivera ’27 (choreographed by Allie Mikalatos ’25) were delicate, intimate moments. Itchy and Scratchy (Jensine Wagner ’25 and Abigail Gomes ’28) were a playful addition to the more-somber vibe of Act 3. My biggest wish for this part of the show was for the ultimate fight between Mr. Burns and Bart, choreographed by Sena Yacteen, to have been longer and more filled with action, rather than mainly circling each other threateningly on stage. 

With a running time of roughly two and a half hours, I was impressed that the sound and light work were virtually seamless, and the actors rarely showed any sign of fatigue. As the last curtain fell and the lights went dark, Ogunsanya’s final booming remark from the back of the theater summed up the performance perfectly: “SUPERB!”