[ckissick]

I wasn't involved, but I have a unique perspective on the gist of this study, which is that anyone has the capacity for evil, given the right environment. They even mentioned Nazis.

I played a Nazi in a performance of Anne Frank at our local theater. I arrested everyone in the annex at the end of the play. The director told me to be "evil incarnate" so that I would terrify the audience. So, I was as evil as I could be. I screamed German anti-Jewish epithets in Otto Frank's and Anne's face, held a gun to their head, and shoved them around. By the end of the Sunday matinee, after a week a dress rehearsals, I couldn't even speak and I broke down sobbing. It was awful. BTW, I never, ever yell in real life. I get angry so seldom, it's probably a mental deficiency. I am the epitome of mild-mannered.

I was having a nervous breakdown. It would take me at least two hours to settle down afterwards. I couldn't sleep. I didn't think I could go out on stage the following Friday. Thing is, in order to deliver a convincing performance, you can't pretend. You have to become that character. That was the problem. I became evil.

I went for long walks on the beach and had long conversations with my wife. By the time Friday rolled around, I was able to buck up and do it. The third weekend was easier. By the fifth a final weekend, I was having fun doing it. After escorting the Franks and the others into the wings where we could be ourselves, I would laugh and high-five the others like I just scored a touchdown.

This turned out to be a sobering lesson on how a mild-mannered, chill person such as myself could become evil and even embrace the situation.