Schulthies is an editor who holds a master's degree in English literature and teaches English at the community college level. In the following essay, she examines surrealistic evil and its harmful effects in Kopit's play.

Arthur Kopit's contemporary drama Y2K creates a feeling of lurking evil in a surrealistic setting. Kopit suggests an ominous unreality that hints at, rather than shouts of, potential danger. The evil feels close at hand because it "lives" in personal computers, which people keep in their private homes. As people use their computers, they reveal personal information in e-mails and in their Internet use. In Y2K, Kopit poses the question, what if the most personal details of people's lives could be tapped into and used against them?

Computers "talk" to one another at high speeds, networks record messages sent and received, and information of all kinds is submitted and accepted...