“Mr. Burns, a Post Electric Play” opened with a group of characters sitting around a campfire recounting an episode of the Simpsons. They had survived fatal nuclear accidents that killed nearly the entire human race.

The first scene was long and involved, a preview of what the whole show was like. Usually, potential play-goers would stay away from a performance of length and intricacy, but these elements worked to the advantage of “Mr. Burns.”

With long scenes and limited props, the actors were given a chance to exhibit their raw talent; and, man, how they did.

They rapped and danced; they sang harmonies that gave audience members the chills; they transformed from survivors of mass destruction to actors to Simpsons to cats and mice; they gave all of themselves to the stage and it really paid off.

Megan Bolton, a St. Edward’s senior Theater major who worked on props for the show agrees.

“I think this show is great because it shows how much of a range St. Edward’s actors have. We do a lot of serious realism, like our next show ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,” so the dichotomy is great. Being able to pull of an absurdist show of this caliber at a college level is not very common,” Bolton said.

Halfway through the play, the cast came out in Marge, Bart, Homer and Lisa Simpson masks.

The masks increased the feel of this surreal, Simpson, “post-electric” world.

The actors did what seemed like 20 musical numbers in the masks. Rachel Dunk, a St. Edward’s senior who stole the show playing Rachel (a survivor) and Bart Simpson noted some of the actors’ inexperience performing in masks.

“Mask work is an entirely new and different battle. It was crazy getting used to having masks on our faces because it requires you to be so much more in your body. You can’t just be sad in your face; your entire body has to be sad,” Dunk said.

Despite the actors’ lack of experience working in masks, they were graceful and elegant, the opposite of the play.

“Mr. Burns, a Post Electric Play” was bizarre but fascinating, and it worked.