This spring, the Blair Academy Players brought the dark comedy, Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play, to Blair’s stage on May 17, 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m. The award-winning play by Anne Washburn, with score by Michael Friedman and lyrics by Anne Washburn, took place in the Robert J. Evans Open Air Theatre.

The much-produced show opens in the near future with a group of survivors of a cataclysmic event and the near-collapse of humanity. The power grid is down, and life has become tenuous. In act one, survivors indulge in a nostalgic memory of a specific Simpsons episode, “Cape Feare.” Set seven years in the future, the second act finds the survivors having formed a traveling troupe of Simpsons performers, and the audience learns more about the state of the world in its second dark ages. Act three jumps 75 years into the future, when pop culture has become myth, and The Simpsons is no longer a weekly cartoon, but merely a legend.

“The play is equally funny and tragic, as the role of story and drama is explored through the popular culture of The Simpsons,” said Craig Evans, veteran performing arts teacher and theatre director.

The cast included John Zoetjes ’19, Ryan Gomez ’20, Aavya de Silva ’20, Victoria Crow ’20, Audrey Sacks ’20, Kelsey Jackman ’20, Montana Carson ’20, Hannah Walker ’21, and Sofia Sorensen ’19. The show was student directed by Gardner Coates ’20, and the assistant music director was Matt Dev ’19.

Eager to take on the challenge of playing two roles, Audrey portrayed post-apocalyptic survivor, Quincy, in act two, and Bart Simpson in act three. She also enjoyed performing in her fifth Players production and in the Robert J. Evans Outdoor Theatre.

“Aside from the family-like bond between the actors, what makes Blair's theatre program really special is Mr. Evans' beautiful outdoor theatre. It is something unique to Blair that the audience gets to enjoy just as much as the actors do,” she said.