Q & A With Bill Oakley on Portland Playhouse’s “Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play”
Friday, May 29, 2015
Portland Playhouse presents MR. BURNS: A POST- ELECTRIC PLAY, a play on the significance of storytelling- starring The Simpsons.
“We are very excited to produce the regional debut of MR. BURNS,” says Portland Playhouse Artistic Director and show director Brian Weaver. “As always, it is our mission to activate surprise, delight, and challenge in our lives by exposing audiences to artistically forward shows. MR. BURNS: A POST- ELECTRIC PLAY aims to do just that.”
The three act play begins outside around a campfire and makes its way throughout The Playhouse property, spanning three post-catastrophe, post-electricity generations.
Portland ties are evident; from Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons to MR.BURNS’ playwright and graduate of Reed College Anne Washburn, to local band Blitzen Trapper’s Brian Koch, starring as Matt.
GoLocalPDX and Portland Playhouse spoke with Bill Oakley former writer during the fourth season and executive producer, and showrunner during the seventh and eighth seasons of The Simpsons.
GoLocalPDX: In Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a post-electric play, the lines from characters have become currency for a group of people in a post-apocolypic setting. Essentially, The Simpsons becomes essential to their survival. Is there a show or other work of art that you find is as integral to your life?
Bill Oakley: I would absolutely cling to The Simpsons but it would not be the Cape Feare episode. It would be Homer the Heretic, which has some nice positive themes of community and togetherness, essential for a post-apolcalyptic society.
In the play two characters debate the value of art in their world asking: What do you personally want more of in your life, meaning or entertainment?
BO: I like a nice mix of 95% entertainment with 3% meaning and 2% vermouth, with a pearl onion if possible.
Have you seen the play? If no, why not? If yes, thoughts?
BO: I have not seen the play because I do not like to leave my house. If they want to come over here and perform it, I can push back a couch in the living room and maybe provide Cheetos and Snapple.
If we lost all digital and archival material for The Simpsons, and you were charged with recreating as many episodes as possible from memory, how accurate would you be, and how many episodes could you reconstruct?
BO: I could absolutely reconstruct at least 75 episodes and they would be 80-100% accurate. This would serve me well after the apocalypse because I have no other useful or marketable skills.
There have been so many celebrity cameos on The Simpsons. Who has not been on the show yet that you would like to see make an appearance.
BO: We could never get Stockard Channing to appear on the show for some reason and I’m pretty sure she is still alive. So STOCKARD CHANNING it is.
What characters would you want to have as a part of your post-apolocyptic tribe? Who would you avoid?
BO: Obviously I would want Ned Flanders because he would do all the work while I laid in a hammock and I don’t think he would ever even complain.
Mr. Burns: A Post- Electric Play at Portland Playhouse, 602 NE Prescott Street, May 13th – June 14th, 8:30 pm Wednesdays-Saturdays and 2 pm and 8:30 pm Sundays. For more information and to buy tickets click HERE.
Related Slideshow: 3 Days Of Rain At Portland Center Stage
Portland Center Stage’s Three Days of Rain features Grimm actors Silas Weir Mitchell and Sasha Roiz.
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