Amid media reports denying Russian meddling, 25-year-old security contractor Reality Winner printed a classified document showing Russian military intelligence had hacked a voting software company to interfere in local election systems, and mailed the information to a news site.
FBI agents arrived at Winner's home in Augusta, Georgia on June 3, 2017 to question her about the leak, and a transcript of that exchange - with redactions - is publicly available.
"I don't want you to go down the wrong road. I think you need to stop and think about what you're saying and what you're doing," one agent warned her.
The play reproduces Winner's 2017 interrogation right down to the stutters and stumbles. (HANDOUT/PAULA COURT)
The interrogation is at once horrifying and enthralling, with Winner (a linguist who speaks Persian, Dari and Pashto) trying to evade answering questions and even joking with the FBI agents during the interrogation.
"Have you ever discussed any classified material with anybody who wouldn't have the prior US government authorisation?" they ask.
"Not many people ask about Iranian aerospace, so I lucked out," she replies.
Winner was taken into custody and charged under the 1917 Espionage Act, in the first criminal leak case under the Trump administration.
She was sentenced to three years and five months' jail, the longest sentence ever imposed in the US for the unauthorised leaking of government information to the media.
New York based director and playwright Tina Satter didn't initially pay much attention to the case, until she came across the transcript of the interrogation and realised it was full of dramatic possibilities.
"It felt really fascinating and alive ... I just found it really compelling," she told AAP from New York.
Satter developed the transcript into a play titled Is This a Room, with every word, stutter and stumble reproduced verbatim by a cast of four actors. When others cautioned that the text needed editing and restructuring, she insisted it would stand on its own and should not be altered in any way.
"It was the strongest thing to show what happened in the room that day, and for people to decide for themselves what they thought," she said.
"There was a rigour and honesty to that, which felt pretty important."
While the play was being developed in New York City, Reality Winner was serving her prison sentence in Fort Worth, Texas.
Following a sold-out run at The Kitchen in 2019, it opened on Broadway in 2021. At that point Winner was in home detention but not allowed to leave the district in Texas.
Satter was in contact with Winner's mother and sister about the progress of Is This a Room, and eventually spoke to Winner via video call after her release.
"She's a fighter, and this really strong, funny person, and doesn't want to necessarily play the role everyone wants her to play," says Satter.
When Anna Reece took up the role of Perth Festival artistic director, Is This a Room was one of the first plays she invited to the city for her inaugural program in 2025.
The Perth shows will be the first stagings of Is This a Room under the second Trump administration. (HANDOUT/PAULA COURT)
"Even though it is a transcript, has such a theatrical arc, it has this tension ... it was just a game changer for me, I really hadn't experienced anything like it," she said of seeing the show in New York.
The showing in Perth in February will be the first time Is This a Room has been staged under the second Trump administration.
Of course, Trump himself was charged with the mishandling of classified documents after his first presidency, a felony case that is now being wound down.
Winner's story has also been developed for the screen, with a 2021 documentary, a 2023 feature starring Sydney Sweeney and directed by Satter, as well as a 2024 release starring Emilia Jones.
Reflecting on Winner leaking the classified document, Satter believes it might not have felt like a radical act at a time when there were repeated denials about election interference aired by media outlets including Fox News.
"It felt like a very relatable action ... the president and a bunch of other people are lying about this, I can see the truth, I'm gonna put it in an envelope."
 Is This a Room is on February 14-17 as part of the Perth Festival.
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