No one can say that Artistic Director Trevor Schmidt skirts a theatrical challenge.

His opening salvo for Northern Light Theatre 2006-2007 season is the banned-in-Brazil Miss Margarida’s Way.

Written by exiled intellectual Roberto Athayde, the play is a sprawling work mimicking an eighth grade biology class being taught by the titular Miss Margarida, a power-mad teacher who’s more than a little bonkers.

The playwright has described his one-woman play (with the help of a silent male actor playing the role of a cowed student) as an example of "ego in pursuit of power," speaking to his feelings about the dictatorship that ruled Brazil in the late ’70s and a wide variety of other forms of authoritarian power both large- and small-scale.

"It’s a very difficult play written by a very brilliant guy. There’s a lot of yelling and the main character is one who’s always contradicting herself," says Schmidt of the politically and psychologically complicated work.

The play boasts a high-profile production history, including its 1977 San Franciso opening starring Michael Learned (aka the mother on The Waltons). Estelle Parsons (a well-respected actress best known as the mom on TV’s Roseanne) performed the role twice in two Tony-winning New York productions, the first a few months after its West Coast debut under the production of Joseph Papp, the second a revival in 1990.

This is a well-traveled work that has invoked in all its audiences both harsh socio-political vibes and feelings intensely personal. The ranting, raving Miss Margarida can’t help but remind theatrical attenders of any and all psychopathic teachers they’ve ever had. According to Schmidt, Miss Margarida pulls the power-warping tricks not only of a teacher but also as a political demagog, parent, and seductress in a multilayered critique of power that truly covers all the bases

The hard part? The play is one long lecture-style text broken only once for a recess/intermission. It’s not that hard to lose sight of one’s delivery in such a monolithic piece of dialogue.

"You have to take your time and pace yourself, trusting that the audience will follow you and not be bored," says Schmidt, happy to be working with Linda Grass in the title role.

"She never once screwed up any of the lines in The Beard, which is an accomplishment because there’s a lot of text in that play and it relies so much on repetition," he says.

"Linda is a modern version of Greek theatre. She can embody great passion in a very small space.

Because of the the play’s form as well as its themes, Schmidt decided to carve a miniature, faux-classroom in the extended playing area. To that end, eight desks of various sizes, builds and vintages have been set up and "lucky" members of the audience will be hand-selected to occupy this boxy array of hot seats.

The idea is to totally connect the audience emotionally with the flow and ideas embodied in the text, reminding them via these proxies that they are the class being lectured.

"This is a play that is all about blind obedience and being put in a place where you don’t ask questions from authority figures," he says.

"Will audience members just sit there as she harasses them? She will be walking about and taking directly to and touching the audience members. She won’t be doing anything to get sued, but certainly enough to make people uncomfortable.

"This is about power being used by a person not to create opportunities for improvement, but instead to disempower people."