MR BURNS

BY ANNE WASHBURN
PELL CHAFFEE PERFORMANCE CENTER
PROVIDENCE RI 
Directed by Molly Rosa Houlahan
Scenic Design by Anton Volovsek 
Costume Design by Camilla Dely
Lighting Design by Ebony Burton
Sound Design by Caroline Eng 
Photos by Mark Turek
A paean to live theater, resilience, and Bart Simpson through the ages

After the collapse of civilization and sans electricity, a group of survivors share a campfire and begin to rehash the plot of The Simpsons episode “Cape Feare” entirely from memory. What follows over the decades that ensue is an exploration of future generations’ inevitable decay through the transformation of pop culture into ritual. This imaginative dark comedy propels us forward nearly a century, following a new civilization stumbling into its future. Mr. Burns is an animated exploration of how the pop culture of one era might evolve into the mythology of another.



© CAMILLA DELY / 2025