Lockhart, a theater and government double major, looking to direct a politically-themed play, was drawn to Halliwell’s examination of "the abuse of authority and freedom as a result of mis-directed frustration and the power of persuasion." Though it was written in the early 1960’s, Lockhart believes that "Little Malcolm" still resonates, drawing parallels between the play and such recent events as the Woodstock ’99 riots, in which a protest over the high prices at concession stands degenerated into violence and chaos. Indeed, the comparison is apt: the benignly comic antics of the play’s first act swirl out of control in the betrayal, mutiny, and assault of Act II. 

Malcolm Scrawdyke (Charlie McNally), having just received word that he has been expelled from art school, persuades his friends Irwin (Owen Panatierri), Wick (Tim McGregor), and Nipple (Nick Johnson) to help him organize a political party with the aim of attaining "power purely for its own sake." Malcolm strives for such power to fight what he describes as the castrated

masses, the Eunarchy, symbolized in his mind by final exams, diplomas, and annoying classmates. The hilariously dubbed Party of Dynamic Erection disavows policy of any kind and instead directs its attention to such pressing concerns as the renaming of months, the search for the perfect salute, and the planned kidnapping of the art school’s headmaster, the arch-Eunuch, Allard. The schemes of the Dynamic Erectionists are complicated by the entrance of Ann Gedge (Lara Schwartzberg), significantly the play’s single female, the object of Malcolm’s bumbling affections, and the only character to see through Malcolm’s ranting and posturing. 

Though Little Malcolm and his Struggles Against the Eunuchs is certainly phallically charged, the characters hope to "suddenly erect the penis of our conspiracy." Lockhart insists that the play encompasses more than a stiff rod in a clenched fist (the symbol used on the banner of the Party of Dynamic Erection). Sexual frustration in the play stands in for a larger sense of impotency, failing that drives a tyrannical desire for power. As both Halliwell and Lockhart observe, Adolf Hitler was also once kicked out of art school.

Andrew Drane ’01 has designed the party’s headquarters, Malcolm’s meticulously dank apartment in-the-round, complete with paint-splattered concrete floors. Wiley Bowen ’00
designed costumes (including Malcolm’s appropriately grungy army fatigues), Rich Orris ’02 designed lights, and Mary Hurd stage manages the production.