Comedy, Chaos, and the Power of Storytelling at Cumberland Players

by Kristine Bonaventura

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” - Philip Pullman. Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play tells the story of six survivors from an unspecified apocalypse involving nuclear power plants and how they manage to push society forward through storytelling - specifically, their memory of The Simpsons. As someone who grew up watching The Simpsons I was particularly excited to experience this production with no previous knowledge of the play other than it involves the episode “Cape Feare” (Season 5 Episode 2). So of course I rewatched the episode before attending the performance at Cumberland Players and while I am glad I did so for nostalgia’s sake, it definitely is not necessary for those who have never seen it. 

Entering the space you are met with a very simplistic stage of mismatching furniture: a couch, an old arm chair and two camping chairs with a bucket of wood in the center, which really sets the vibe for the entire piece. While there is no Set Designer mentioned, there are several listed under Set Construction: Michael Blandino, Monica DiMauro, Lazuli Ritteler and Lauren Fazenbaker. This group kept the set minimalistic which is exactly what it needed. It gave the performers all the space to move around while easily helping us understand the location and whereabouts. This is also due to the excellent Lighting and Sound design by Rachael Smith who took us from sitting outside in the woods to a rough rehearsal space to an actual performance with ease in both lighting and sound. Smith was able to help raise and lower the stakes of the performance through creative sound design - moments of high pitch tones to help set you on edge and cicadas to set the scene in the woods. No mics were used which I feel is the best choice, but there were times it was tough to hear the actors in Act 1. Props were an extremely important part to this production. Given this is taking place post-apocalypse, the characters would have had to scrounge up what they could to create their performance. This means the props had to successfully display what they were meant to be, while obviously not matching perfectly. For example: sewed together sheets/curtains with poles to create a car while being held by the performers. Excellent job by the props team: Michael Clandio, Monicao DiMauro, Elena Marcato, Matthew McGill and Lazuli Ritteler. 

The entire troupe, thanks in large part to Director Allie Coeby, did a phenomenal job of balancing this dark comedy; having it sit in reality with fear of the possible future and layering it with comedic moments that lift you out of that doom and gloom. This script is quite the roller coaster of emotions for sure, written by Anne Washburn and music by Michael Friedman. I will admit I did not realize there would be singing involved, let alone mostly a cappella. But when I tell you I was very impressed with the vocals, blending of the voices and having the cast move from song to song without any starting pitches was very impressive. I sang a cappella for years and could have never done it without my starting pitch so bravo to all. This truly shows the talent in the cast and the skill from Music Director Jennifer J. Moore. 

While the content of Act 1 is mostly to lay out the apocalypse circumstances and display how people can come from all different walks of life to create their own families, Act 2 was much more theatrical…literally. Audience members watch the gang create their own theatre troupe to continue their storytelling in real time. For those of you who are performers or part of a production team, this will be all too real for you in the best way possible. Be prepared to laugh because the cast did an excellent job of portraying the various personalities, conundrums and disagreements one would experience in a rehearsal. Not only did Allie Coeby direct this piece, but also choreographed. The hilarious choreography was so perfectly imperfect it truly showed what can go wrong in the middle of a rehearsal process. Hats off to the cast for not breaking character ONCE during this entire act, I don’t know if I would have been able to keep a straight face. Additionally, this play, in its perfect chaos, seems to be a bit of a beast so I congratulate Stage Manager Elena Marcato for keeping everything running smooth. As there is a bit of gun violence throughout the production, I do wish there was a Fight Choreographer involved to assist with the use of the fake weapons and the timing.

Act 3 contains an actual performance by the theatre troupe as they continue, and distort, their memory of The Simpsons episode of “Cape Feare”. There is no Costume Designer mentioned in the playbill, but I felt they were well done taking us through the different years portrayed. While googling, I saw other productions actually created masks for the Simpsons characters, but personally I feel they would be unnecessary. I loved how each Simpson character was represented with mismatching pieces in this production (similarly to the props). For example: instead of creating a mask for Bart, the actor wore a crown to represent his spikey hair - how clever! Makeup (created by Maddie VanMeter) throughout the production was fairly simple, as that is all it needed to be, but when we meet Mr. Burns during the Act 3 performance, his face is devilishly painted, reminding me of the Joker from Batman.

“I’m not trying to turn it into a Drama Quincy, I'm trying to create a richer sense of reality and that’s part of what makes it funny; things are funniest when they’re true. Right?” Maria, played by Alexa St. Clair, makes this profound statement while in the rehearsal room and I cannot stress this enough, this cast as a whole hit this concept out of the park. Comedy is rooted in reality, the reason why we find things so funny is because even though it may be an extreme version of the situation, we can relate to the truth behind the absurdity. St. Clair was excellent at hopping from the neighborhood girl familiar with her surroundings while meeting others, to the performer who, while quiet, takes things very seriously and analyzes the entirety of the piece, to Lisa Simpson. Matthew McGill expertly plays Sam, the leader of the small group of survivors, showing he can sit back to listen to the storytelling, but all the while paying close attention to their surroundings looking out for intruders. Then quickly switches to the unorganized stagehand/runner collecting props, set pieces etc. to playing Mr. Burns. Julie Morell plays Quincy who is introduced to us in Act 2. There is a sense of community between the characters introduced in Act 1 who create the acting troupe, but Morell easily added Quincy to the group making it clear she joined later, but holds power and has become part of the family, even if she has a little bit of an attitude. But that attitude helps her jump straight into Bart Simpson in Act 3. 

Matt, played by Brendan Bradley, kicks off the show with his retelling of the “Cape Feare” episode. Bradley skillfully demonstrates how easy it is to forget details when we are no longer connected to our beloved Google and Youtube. He stumbles through the details piece by piece with the help of Jenny, played by Lauren Fazenbaker, until they have remembered the majority of the episode. This is all detrimental when it comes to Matt’s and Jenny’s participation in Act 2, trying to lead with their ideas of how things should be remembered and performed. Given this duo was established well in the first two acts by Bradley and Fazenbaker, it is no surprise they team up together to play the cruel and evil cat and mouse cartoon characters of Itchy and Scratchy in Act 3.

Gibson, played by Curtis Matias, is the first outsider we see join the small survivor family in Act 1. With his entrance into the campsite we see the first dose of sincerity and fear among the group. Matias successfully introduces the drama into the production, but is able to lighten the mood when he starts joining into the storytelling. While he doesn’t know the episode, he is a performer. Matias beautifully establishes the theatrical portion of the storytelling with his first a cappella song “Three Little Maids from School”. In Act 2, as part of the acting troupe, Matias continues to bring the reality and drama to the production and finally ends up playing Homer in Act 3. Last but not least, Colleen, played by Jordan O’Chester is silent during Act 1, almost catatonic. O’Chester brings some layers to the survivor group - not everyone is going to be able to find some joy and comfort through storytelling in a situation such as this, some will fall into deep depression and struggle to find a way out. O’Chester starts on stage before the performance even begins playing with a notebook and a radio and as the act continues, wanders on and off stage, almost seeming lost and unsure of what she should do. In Act 2 Colleen has clearly pulled herself out of the grief and fear and surprisingly has become the Director of the acting troupe. O’Chester does a wonderful job at flipping the characters completely from Act 1 to Act 2. In Act 2 O’Chester is seen moving on and off the stage into the house to really engross the audience into feeling like we are part of the rehearsal process, even giving a few potential improved lines of annoyance and frustration as I have witnessed directors do from time to time! Finally, O’Chester ends up playing Marge in Act 3.

Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play is certainly one of the most interesting and intriguing productions I have seen in a long time. Comedy is best when it truly makes you think and this group at Cumberland Players does a beautiful job at making you do just that. How does storytelling and performance art play into the sanity of human beings and society as a whole? Time alters our stories into becoming myths and legends and they can become distorted to help support the current needs of society to survive and push forward. Bottom line: theatre is important, keep supporting it. 

Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play runs now through Sunday September 21. You can purchase tickets here: https://www.etix.com/ticket/e/1047558/mrburns-vineland-cumberland-players