Centenary Stage Company’s Nextstage Rep to Present Final Weekend Of MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY

Centenary Stage Company’s NEXTStage Repertory continues its 2025–2026 season with Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play, featuring a score by Michael Friedman and lyrics by Anne Washburn.

The production, directed by Christopher Young, plays its final weekend in the Kutz Theatre at the Lackland Performing Arts Center on the Centenary University campus in Hackettstown, New Jersey.

After the collapse of civilization, a group of survivors gathers around a campfire to recall, from memory, an episode of The Simpsons—the classic “Cape Feare.” Seven years later, these fragments of pop culture have become the foundation of a new live entertainment form, and seventy-five years later, they have evolved into myths and legends that shape an entirely new society.

Washburn’s darkly comedic vision, paired with Friedman’s music, explores how modern pop culture might become the folklore of the future—a hauntingly funny, deeply imaginative meditation on memory, survival, and storytelling.

The NEXTStage Repertory is Centenary Stage Company’s all-student performance division, providing Centenary University theatre students with professional-level experience both onstage and behind the scenes. Students in the NEXTStage Rep also work directly with CSC’s professional company, gaining valuable networking opportunities with visiting artists and industry professionals.

Christopher Young, who directs the production, serves as CSC’s General Manager and teaches Stage Combat and Acting for the Camera in Centenary’s Theatre Department.

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