Reading order#
| # |
Title |
Published |
Author |
Buy on Amazon |
| 1 |
The Night of January 16th |
1936 |
Ayn Rand |
Buy |
The Night of January 16th was Rand’s most commercially successful theatrical work and the one that gave her a Broadway credit before any of her major novels. Written in 1934 and revised for the stage in 1935, it ran successfully on Broadway under the title Penthouse Legend before the Ayn Rand title became standard.
The play’s central device, the audience as jury, made it a distinctive theatrical experience. Productions vary in outcome depending on each night’s audience, which gave it an interactive quality unusual for its era. The murder trial at the center of the story turns on questions of individual willpower and independence that anticipate the themes of The Fountainhead, though in a more entertainment-focused form.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books are in the Ayn Rand Standalone Plays series?
There are one books in the Ayn Rand Standalone Plays series, published in 1936.
What is the first book in the Ayn Rand Standalone Plays series?
The first book in the Ayn Rand Standalone Plays series is The Night of January 16th, published in 1936.
What makes The Night of January 16th unusual as a play?
The Night of January 16th is structured as a courtroom trial in which members of the audience are selected to sit as the jury and deliver a verdict at the end of the performance. The play was written so that both verdicts, guilty or not guilty, are plausible given the evidence, meaning the ending changes with each performance depending on how the audience decides. Rand wrote the play in 1934 and revised it for its Broadway run in 1935.