What is Samizdat?
Inspired by the quiet but deliberate defiance of Czechoslovakian dissidents ahead of the Velvet Revolution, a movement that ended decades of authoritarian rule, Samizdat takes its name and its practice from what was once banned.
This is live theatre born of that lineage. Samizdat is passed, not announced. The messages unfold in living rooms, parks, beer halls, alleys, and other hidden corners on a need-to-know basis. Specifics are released gradually, privately, and with careful intention.
Samizdat is intimate, fleeting, and forbidden to exist in plain sight. It is both a product of and response to this moment. If this has reached you, it was meant to. Discretion is protection.
Play #1
Audience by Václav Havel
March 26-29, 2026
Location: ███████████, Pittsburgh, PA
Directed by Steven Michael Wilson. Featuring Jeffrey Carpenter and Robert Anthony Peters.
Over Pilsner and paperwork, a blacklisted Czech playwright confronts a proposition that could entangle him in the very system he resists.
Meet the dissidents →
Play #2
The Unveiling by Václav Havel
April 30-May 3, 2026
Location: ███████████, Pittsburgh, PA
Directed by Azadeh Kangarani. Featuring Tony Bingham, Tami Dixon, and Robert Anthony Peters.
A reunion among old friends and their new things becomes a quiet reckoning of how conviction erodes under the weight of comfort.
Meet the dissidents →
Play #3
Protest by Václav Havel
June 4-7, 2026
Location: ███████████, Pittsburgh, PA
Directed by Jeffrey Carpenter. Featuring Steven Schub and Robert Anthony Peters.
A modest request between old friends becomes a battle of intellect and ideology, where every argument cuts deeper than the last and no belief emerges unscathed.
Get on the wait list →
Location
Each play will take place at a unique, secret location in Pittsburgh, PA. These locations will only be revealed to ticket buyers after they acquire a ticket.
Meet the Artists
Jeffrey Carpenter
Robert Anthony Peters
Katie Mikula-Wineman
Steven Michael Wilson
Azadeh Kangarani
Tony Bingham
Tami Dixon
Steven Schub
Alex Righetti