Maybe if we’re nice to them, they won’t burn our house down…

The Hidden Room beckons you to Max Frisch’s explosive absurdist comedy about the dangers of polite complicity and the privilege of self-delusion.

A string of devastating fires has plagued Gottlieb and Babette Biedermann’s hometown, and it’s always the same story. A harmless peddler asks for a room for the night, and by morning the house is ashes. The citizenry have been warned — it’s all over the news. Even a Greek chorus of firefighters is sounding the alarm. And yet, when the knock at the Biedermanns’ door comes, and a menacing stranger asks for a room, it’s just so hard to turn him away.

The Hidden Room returns after a five-year hiatus from live performances to bring Frisch’s 1953 “morality tale without a moral” to the stage, with dramaturgical guidance from Dr. Thomas Strässle, President of the Max Frisch Foundation at ETH Zurich.

Starring Joseph Garlock, Kelly Hasandras, Chandler Krisson, Robert Matney, T. Lynn Mikeska, Tobie Minor, Justin Scalise, and Amelia Turner, with live music performed by Michael Ferstenfeld.

Three weekends only, April 2 – 19, 2026. All shows at 8 PM except Sundays at 5 PM. Running time: 90 minutes.

In a Hidden Room somewhere within 311 W 7th Street, Austin, Texas, 78701.