Vaclav Havel – dissident, human rights activist, essayist, philosopher, politician, founder, and president of the Czech Republic – is known throughout the world as a hero of the human rights movement and martyr for the “right to write” (he was imprisoned many times under communism in his country). But few of us in the West know that he is also his country’s most famous dramatist. In fact, his presidency has eclipsed his playwriting. This book tells the dramatic story of his life in the theater during three dark decades under communism, and the extreme risks that he and many others took to put on his plays. The book also discusses his ten full-length plays and eight one-acts – plays that not only tell the story of his country but also helped to change it. For those of us who work in the theater, his story is a powerful and moving one about what it means to be a playwright, a story wherein writing for the theater is an act of courage.
