MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY

This production is supported in part by

SHS Foundation

Steven L. Holley, Frederic C. Rich, and Ned Whitney and Martha Howell

artistic director Davis McCallum

managing director Kate Liberman

PRESENTS

by ANNE WASHBURN score by MICHAEL FRIEDMAN lyrics by ANNE WASHBURN directed by DAVIS MCCALLUM**

Orlando Pabotoy** ........................................ Choreographer/Fight Movement Kimiye Corwin ............................................... “Chart Hits” Choreography Peiyi Wong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scenic Designer Kathleen Doyle+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Costume Designer Stacey Derosier+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lighting Designer Darron L West+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sound Designer Samantha Shoffner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Props Designer Saul Nache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Music Director Julia Bates* ................................................. Production Stage Manager Janelle Caso* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stage Manager Casting .........................Calleri Jensen Davis (James Calleri, Erica Jensen, Paul Davis)

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theatre, HVSF, and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. +Represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829 of the IATSE. **Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.

“Mr. Burns, a post-electric play” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

Playwrights Horizons, Inc. produced the New York City premiere of the play off-Broadway in 2013. Originally produced in June, 2012 by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Washington, DC, Howard Shalwitz, Artistic Director; Jeffrey Herrmann, Managing Director. Mr. Burns was Commissioned by The Civilians, New York, NY Steven Cosson, Artistic Director For the language of the remembering of the Simpsons’ episode, Cape Feare, the author would like to credit the Civilians actors involved in the initial workshop: Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Maria Dizzia, Gibson Frazier, Matt Maher, Jennifer Morris, Colleen Werthmann and Sam Breslin Wright.

The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author(s)’s rights and actionable under United States copyright law. For more information, please visit: concordtheatricals.com/resources/protecting-artists

“Love never dies in memory.”

In a not-so-distant future where the grid has failed, society has crumbled, and memories can no longer be stored on hard drives, a group of survivors come together to recreate their vanished world through the life-affirming act of telling stories under the stars. A love letter to live theater, and a hymn of survival and resilience (sung by America’s unlikeliest hero, Bart Simpson!), Mr. Burns is an exhilarating exploration of how the pop culture of one era might evolve into the mythology of another.

Cast

Kimberly Chatterjee* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Understudy Kayla Coleman* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edna Krabappel Erin DespanieCC ................................ Shades of Springfield Chorus / Ensemble Zachary Fine* ................................................... Sam / Bart / Mr. Burns Zoë GoslinCC ................................... Shades of Springfield Chorus / Ensemble Merritt Janson* .................................................. Colleen / Lisa / Marge Lauren Karaman* ................................. Jenny / First F.B.I. Agent / Marge / Itchy Sean McNall* .......................... Gibson / Loving Husband / Sideshow Bob / Homer Emily Ota* ............................................ Maria / Second F.B.I. Agent / Lisa Will Ormsby CaryCC ............................. Shades of Springfield Chorus / Ensemble Luis Quintero* ................................................. Matt / Homer / Scratchy Britney Simpson* ....................................... Quincy / Business Woman / Bart Destini StewartCC ............................... Shades of Springfield Chorus / Ensemble Roman Alec TrevinoCC ........................... Shades of Springfield Chorus / Ensemble

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. cc Member of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival Conservatory Company

Please be advised

This production contains realistically depicted gun violence.

“The world is violent and mercurial – it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love – love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.” — Tennessee Williams

It’s tricky to write a program note for this particular play, because I really do not want to give anything away! One thing I do want you to know: Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play is not a play about The Simpsons. While some, particularly my children, may be disappointed to read that, I hope that many of you will be relieved. You really do not have to know a single thing about The Simpsons, now in its 33rd Season and the longest running episodic show in the history of television, to appreciate or enjoy this play.

Consider how the story of Romeo & Juliet was already centuries old by the time Shakespeare picked it up and turned it into a play.

The play is a celebration of storytelling. In particular, it relishes the way that stories are passed along through time, even to the edge of doom — transformed by each teller, moving through various forms of expression, and endlessly reinvented. Consider, for example, how the story of Romeo & Juliet was already centuries old by the time Shakespeare picked it up and turned it into a play in 1592; and how since then it’s been reimagined and adapted as a ballet, and an opera, and dozens of movies, and a famous musical, and a movie of the musical, and recently another movie of the musical, and as a thousand other things, including as an episode of The Simpsons. Like an episode of The Simpsons, the play is in three parts. In the first act, we watch a group of people re-telling a story around a campfire. In the second act, we follow a group of people as they rehearse a play. In the third act, we are treated to a fully-staged performance of ritual drama, in song. If you view the play through that lens, I guess it’s a play about the power of theater to shine a light in a world that is often dark and bewildering.

But I think the play is also about love, and the power of love to triumph over death. The first act is a set of individuals crystalizing as a group, a collective act of falling in love. The second act is a group of people who, though they love each other, are approaching the end of their time as a collective. The third act is a kind of apotheosis of that group, in which their resilience and creativity and love is expressed through the art that they set in motion, long after they are gone. Just as Shakespeare’s plays were written for the particular group of actors in his company, Anne Washburn’s play was born out of her relationship with The Civilians, an NYC theater company whose work I have now admired for 20 years. My friend Michael Friedman, who wrote the music you will hear tonight, was a founding member of The Civilians. He died in 2017. It has been lifeaffirming for me to be in rehearsal with his music the last six weeks, and I’m honored to celebrate his work in HVSF’s first season in our new home.

Enjoy!

Davis McCallum (he/him)

Now in his eighth season as HVSF’s Artistic Director, Davis is a passionate advocate for the power of the arts to bring people together and create more interconnected and resilient communities. Under his leadership, HVSF established HVStories, a multi-year exploration of the people, history, and culture of the Hudson Valley; and Full Circle, a community engagement program inspired by 2016’s citizen-driven production of OUR TOWN. For HVSF, he has directed productions of Cymbeline, Richard II, The Winter’s Tale, Measure for Measure, and the rolling world premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will. Notable productions in New York include Greater Clements (LCT), Lewiston/Clarkston (Rattlestick – Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), The Harvest (LCT3); Stupid Fucking Bird (Pearl), Fashions for Men and London Wall (Mint – Drama Desk and Lortel nomination for Best Revival); The Whale (Lortel Award for Best Play, and Calloway nomination for Best Director) and Pocatello (Playwrights Horizons); Water by the Spoonful (Second Stage – Pulitzer Prize for Drama); and February House (The Public). Other NYC credits include Signature Theatre, The Acting Company, 13P, Clubbed Thumb, Play Company, Page 73, and the New Victory. Regional credits include the Denver Center, Dallas Theater Center, Old Globe, Guthrie, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the O’Neill, American Shakespeare Center, Williamstown, Humana Festival, others. A graduate of Princeton, he studied Shakespeare at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and trained as a director at LAMDA. He has taught acting and directing at Princeton and The New School for Drama. He lives in Cold Spring, and is the father of two sons, Thomas and Angus.

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All works by Mark di Suvero, from left to right: She, 1977–78. Private Collection. Pyramidian, 1987/1998. Gift of the Ralph E. Ogden Foundation. ©Mark di Suvero, courtesy of the artist and Spacetime C.C. Photo: Storm King Art Center ©2022

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Theatre re-connects community.

Congratulations to our friends at HVSF on their 2022 season and bringing us together at their new home under the tent once again.