2024-2025 Season

What Makes a Monster?

“Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.”
— Fyodor Dostoevsky

I always find it a little morbidly amusing whenever I hear people say ‘oh, I could never do that,’ because I know the truth — in the right circumstances, just about any one of us is capable of a very, very broad range of actions, many of which would be considered ‘monstrous’, even by our own standards. Most of us have found ourselves struggling with the wish to do something unpleasant. But do these desires mean that we are monsters — that we have a darker side? I think it’s often the result of unbearable physical, emotional, psychological and physical pain, and when pride, the worst of the ‘deadly sins’, is given full rein. Evil deeds are often used as a means to an end — such as obtaining wealth, sex, status and power.

All the characters in this season’s collection of plays possess qualities of toxic narcissism (self-centeredness, a need for constant, excessive admiration, and a sense of entitlement) and it leads to their quest for respect, self-esteem (and real estate!).

Confucius said, “He who searches for evil must first look at his own reflection.” and this season, NLT wants to examine the human capacity to be monstrous to other human beings. We want to ask ourselves and our audience what keeps us from behaving cruelly — and we want there to be discussion. Nobody is immune to terrible actions. We’re all prone to regressive processes. It’s very easy to enter the dark abyss where evil dwells. We all have the capacity to be monsters.

The author Aleksander Solzhenitsyn once said, “The battleline between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.” And woman.

Trevor Schmidt
Artistic Director