The Unconquered (1940 play)

The Unconquered
Playbill for the Broadway production
Written by	Ayn Rand
Date premiered	February 13, 1940 (1940-02-13)
Place premiered	Biltmore Theatre
Original language	English
Genre	Melodrama
Setting	Petrograd, Russia

The Unconquered is a three-act play written by Russian-American author Ayn Rand as an adaptation of her 1936 novel, We the Living. The story follows Kira Argounova, a young woman living in the Soviet Union in the 1920s. Her lover Leo Kovalensky develops tuberculosis. To get money for his treatment, Kira has an affair with a communist official, Andrei Taganov. After recovering from his illness, Leo becomes involved with black market food sales that Andrei is investigating. When Andrei realizes that Kira loves Leo, he helps his rival avoid prosecution, then commits suicide. Leo leaves Kira, who decides to risk her life escaping the country.

Rand sold an option for the adaptation to producer Jerome Mayer and wrote a script, but he was unable to stage the play. Upon learning about the script, Russian actress Eugenie Leontovich recommended it to producer George Abbott. He staged the play on Broadway in February 1940. The production was troubled by problems with the script and the cast, including the firing of Leontovich and another actor before the premier. When the play opened at the Biltmore Theatre, it was a critical and financial failure, and closed in less than a week. It was the last of Rand's plays produced during her lifetime. The script remained unpublished until 2014.

In the winter of 1924, Leo Kovalensky returns to his apartment in Petrograd after spending two months in jail. The Soviet government has executed his father and expropriated his family's property, including the apartment building. Leo's lover, Kira Argounova, welcomes him home and moves in with him, despite his status as a suspected counter-revolutionary.

A few months later, a panel led by Pavel Syerov questions her. They are evaluating the ideological suitability of students at the college where Kira studies engineering. She admits her bourgeois heritage, and refuses to become an informant about Leo's political views. Andrei Taganov, a GPU officer, expels her. After the meeting, Andrei tells Kira that he admires the bravery she showed in defying the panel. He hopes that in a future world everyone can express themselves openly, but until then people like her must suffer. Since she will lose her ration card for being expelled, he offers to get her a job in a railroad office.