What if Bart Simpson was god?
We know Bart Simpson is a fictional character who is a destructive, self-satisfied dullard.
But what if he was god and he was also widely accepted as a savior who is destined to return a floundering (Western) civilization back to its high-functioning glory? It’s a gobsmackingly absurd proposition. But here we are.
Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play by Anne Washburn, the three-act (and almost three-hour) epic that tells a story of how such a thing might happen, is being performed now by some enthusiastic, talented, and disciplined students at the University of Maryland under the direction of Elizabeth Dinkova, the artistic director at DC’s Spooky Action Theatre. The results of their efforts are, by turns, touching, hilarious, and shocking, and worthy of your respect and time.
Each act looks at a different stage of this civilization’s development.
Act One depicts the early chaos that results from civilization’s collapse. We see people grouping themselves into small pods in order to stay safe, to keep each other company, and to share resources and information. A primary activity they engage in to stave off boredom and to deepen their trust with each other is collectively telling stories that they are all familiar with. As they tell and retell these stories, the stories are corrected or revised.
By Act Two, society has stabilized enough that some groups of people have been able to specialize in producing and distributing the popular storylines for others to hear.
The third act is bizarre. But it seems to be a staging — in its most distilled form, as it has come to be accepted dogma — of one of those familiar stories that have been repeatedly told. The play doesn’t title this act. But I might call it: Bart Simpson Defeats Mr. Burns at Last. It might help to know that this act is an opera.
This show must have challenged everyone involved. If so, everyone in this production met that challenge in a way that rewarded the audience.
It was fun to watch the actors in the third act, where all the gestures and costumes were extreme and stylized.
But what captured my attention was watching as the characters in the first act challenged and helped each other remember how the Bart Simpson stories were supposed to go. It was the actors’ investment in the importance of that exchange of narratives that drew me in and held me as an audience member.
Without exaggeration, it can be said that Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play was a unique experience.
(Rebecca Calkin’s interview with director Elizabeth Dinkova is an enjoyable further excursion into the production.)
Running Time: Two hours and 45 minutes, including one intermission.
Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play plays through October 18, 2026, presented by UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies in the Kay Theatre at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Tickets ($30 + $5 booking fee; students and youth, $10) are available online, with free student tickets available to UMD students.
The program is online here.
Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play
By Anne Washburn
Directed by Elizabeth Dinkova
CAST
Amelia du Bois
Christian Patting
Hayden Polsky
Heidi Lehan
Juliana Vendetti
Kate Slaysman
Keegan Perry
Sonia Thanicatt
SEE ALSO:
Elizabeth Dinkova on directing post-apocalyptic ‘Mr. Burns’ at The Clarice (interview by Rebecca Calkin, October 7, 2026)
