The Simpsons is television’s longest running scripted series. Its first episodes aired in 1989, almost 20 years before most of today's Gustie students were born. In the U.S. (and beyond), most people can name the prominent members of its community of characters. Everyone knows who Homer Simpson is.
Even people who have barely watched the show. That includes three of the leads in the upcoming Gustavus Theatre production, Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play.
The lead players in the play about the show didn't grow up watching the show the play is about.
About the play: Split into three separate acts with three distinct groups of people and time periods, this production does it all, including opera. The first act follows a group trying to recount their favorite episode of The Simpsons in a post-apocalyptic world without electricity. (The episode is ”Cape Feare” from Season 5, Episode 2.) The narrative then jumps seven years, when a theater troupe puts on performances of The Simpsons shows for the public. Because they’re based on faulty memories, the plots of the episodes are changed. The third and final act jumps 75 years into the future, when the characters of The Simpsons have morphed into a distant iteration of their original.
“The thing I took away from it is how pop culture, for some people, can evolve into mythology,” says Maggie Crosby ’29, the actor playing Marge Simpson and Jenny. The idea that a piece of media can become such a deeply rooted part of contemporary culture is both a commentary on mass media audiences of the recent past, and commentary on the faster-moving segmented media of today. What messages and values will last across time?
“It’s an interesting juxtaposition,” says Will Van Elswyk ’28 in reference to the drastic differences between the time periods in each of the three acts. Van Elswyk plays Matt, Homer Simpson, and Scratchy. Says Houghton, who plays Mr. Burns, Bart Simpson, and Sam, “The play is a show about how media literacy evolves over time. As you continue to tell the story it devolves until it is barely recognizable as the original.”
Consider it a century-long game of telephone.
The fact that none of these performers grew up watching The Simpsons is, in a way, proof of the show’s premise. All three performers know and understand many of the jokes and references. Given the pervasiveness of the show in American culture, “It’s kind of impossible not to,” Houghton says. The Simpsons is referenced in hundreds of television shows and movies consumed by today’s college students, including The Lego Movie, How I Met Your Mother, and The Office. Not only that, but The Simpsons itself is a show built on referential culture, mining its audience’s familiarity with other works, including Hamlet, The Shining, The Godfather, Bozo the Clown, The Music Man, Cape Fear (obviously), and many more.
For Van Elswyk and his generation, “The Simpsons has always been a cultural icon and less of a real show. I think that’s interesting. It’s similar in this play. It’s theoretical.”
These actors all have homework to do before making their debut in April as the Simpsons family, and they’re excited to see what that entails. Houghton is looking forward to playing a villain, something they’ve always dreamt of doing. Van Elswyk is “excited to play with the comedy aspects,” that come with portraying the one and only Homer Simpson.
They all know for sure they love the Gustavus Theatre department. “Everyone here is just so welcoming and wants to work with you,” says Crosby.
And note to future writers of apocalyptic plays based on animated TV shows: All three actors cite Phineas and Ferb as their favorite cartoon (created by a duo who met storyboarding The Simpsons).
The show runs April 23 – 26. Tickets can be purchased two weeks in advance.
