Cohesion Theatre Company to Present MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY

Cohesion Theatre Company has announced the second production of their 2017/18 theatrical season, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, an exploration of survival, memory, and storytelling set it a nuclear wasteland of the future. Lance Bankerd will direct this inventive and extraordinary piece.

"We travel in three acts from a few days from now, to seven years into the post electric world, and finally the year 2099 when our culture has informed a ritual opera experience based on The Simpsons episode, 'Cape Feare'," director Lance Bankerd explains.

The "Fallout Shelter" at United Evangelical Church, which has served as the home for Cohesion productions since 2016, will be transformed into Earth in the very near future. Then 7 years after that. Then 75 years after that, as the play moves through it's three acts. Audiences will be challenged to change their perspective - literally - as the performance moves through time and space within the theater itself. Over the course of the play's three acts and three-quarters of a century time span, casual storytelling evolves into theater, theater evolves into ritual, and one Simpsons episode evolves into a myth and legend for a post-apocalyptic world.

Mr. Burns explores the roles of memory, storytelling, and pop culture in a dystopic future where the mass failure of nuclear power plants has left humanity in the dark. Stories the survivors tell by the fireside are no longer tales of survival and struggle, but memories of television programs from yesterday that serve as distraction from their desperate state. Over time we see those simple retellings form into the artistic expression and community building structure of a society climbing out of the rubble, with a certain cartoon family taking center stage. Author Anne Washburn explains in her introduction for the play that for years she had wondered, "What would happen to a pop culture narrative pushed past the fall of civilization."

"We really love this piece," says Cohesion Artistic Producer, Brad Norris. "As an expression of our Season 4 theme: E Pluribus Unum, it is an exciting look at what forms the core of our storytelling nature as people. How we cope, and how we rebuild, and how we come together in the face of disaster and heartbreak. But also how pop culture and simple shared experiences can leave an impression on us that is powerful and that can ultimately be transformative and connective."

Opening night for Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play is Thursday, November 30 at 8pm. Following opening night the show will run Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 4 pm from December 1 through 17, 2017. Tickets are $20 for Adults and $15 for students and seniors and can be purchased online at www.cohesiontheatre.org.

A special industry night performance will be held Monday, December 11 at 8 pm at which tickets for all artists will be just $10.

Cohesion performs in "The Fallout Shelter" at United Evangelical Church (923 S. East Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21224) at the corner of East Avenue and Dillon Street in Canton. Patrons should enter the space through the grey doors on East Avenue. For more information about the 2017/18 Season at Cohesion Theatre Company, visit www.cohesiontheatre.org.