Anyone can be radicalized.

Welcome to North Central College's... Assassins

This dramaturgy site begins with a statement that has been an integral part of our process: the idea that anyone can be radicalized. In the show, we are met with nine of the individuals who have attempted to (successfully or not) assassinate presidents of the United States. We see their motivations, desires, and faults take shape in a way that is both historically accurate at times and completely dramatized at others.

Ultimately, we believe it important to remember that they are all human. We do not intend to justify their heinous acts, but rather we intend to show their stories. These assassins are all people with varying backgrounds, people who have believed in a cause, and people who have been so enraged by the state of the country that they have decided to take it out in a way they believed could spark that change.

Especially in our modern world, we are more susceptible to this idea than ever before. Everywhere we turn we receive a constant flow of information-- whether the information is grounded in truth or not, the echo chambers we place ourselves into only reinforce our ideologies more and more. We are drawn to what we believe in, and we are drawn to fight for it. When a message, feeling, or idea lives within us for long enough, we must find a way to remedy that. 

Not all of us will go on to kill the President to make a point, but with enough empathy we may be able to dissect the thought process that could bring one of us to. Our experiences make us so invigorated that we, too, can become radicalized.

"And then where are we? Who do we believe? Who do we trust? What do we do? We do the only thing we can do. We kill the President."