Ayn Rand’s first novel, We the Living, is a captivating story set in 1920s Russia about students trapped in a communist state. As Rand says: “We the Living is not a story about Soviet Russia in 1925. It is a story about dictatorship, any dictatorship, anywhere, at any time.”

With new authoritarian challenges to liberal democracy arising throughout the Western world, the ideas in the novelette are as timely as ever. The themes of individualism, authoritarianism, and threats to liberty pervade the staged reading of scenes from The Unconquered, Rand’s play based on the novel, and reference the book of the same title, edited by Robert Mayhew.

The reading will be followed by a “Talk Back” Q&A with Robert Mayhew as well as the cast and director.