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Performances have begun for the limited 15-week engagement of Eric Bentley’s 1972 docudrama, ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN, directed by Tony Award-winning director Anna D. Shapiro at New York City Center Stage (i). Check out photos below!
This summer, a rotating all-star cast comes together for a timely and important revival of Eric Bentley’s landmark play. This electrifying docudrama drops you into the tense world of the 1940s House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings, where fame offered no protection and political pressure could end a career.
Using only the original transcripts, the play features the words of artists like Arthur Miller, Jerome Robbins, Paul Robeson, Elia Kazan, Lillian Hellman, Abe Burrows, and Lionel Stander as they faced impossible choices: defend their integrity, protect their careers, or betray their peers. And yet the probing, chilling questions posed by the committee are as powerful as the testimonies themselves, revealing a climate of intimidation and moral conflict that resonates far beyond its time.
The production will feature a rotating cast of artists throughout its run. Guest-starring in the production from June 2 through June 21 are David Krumholtz (Leopoldstadt), Obie Award winner Billy Eugene Jones (Purlie Victorious, Fat Ham), Andrew McCarthy (Pretty in Pink), Sally Murphy (August: Osage County), and Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award winner Jay O. Sanders (Purlie Victorious).
Six veteran actors will perform for the duration of the limited 15 week run through September 11: Three-time Tony Award nominee Brooks Ashmanskas (Smash, The Prom), Jason Babinsky (Network, Billy Elliot), Tony nominee Steven Boyer ([Hand to God]), Emmy and Grammy winner Adam Kantor (The Band’s Visit), Drama Desk Award winner Frederick Weller (In Plain Sight), and Grammy winner, Emmy and Academy Award nominee Michael McKean (This is Spinal Tap, “Better
Call Saul”). Melvin Abston, Noah Pyzik, and Bill Timoney have been cast as understudies.
Joining Sally Murphy and Billy Eugene Jones as guest stars in the production from June 23 through July 12 are Scott Adsit (“30 Rock”), Ben Rappaport (Good Night Oscar), and Thomas Sadoski (“The Newsroom”).
Joining the cast for future dates to be announced soon are Tony Award-winner Santino Fontana, Emmy nominee T.R. Knight, Tony nominee Harry Lennix, Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee Bob Odenkirk, Drama Desk nominee Steven Pasquale, and Golden Globe nominee and Drama Desk Award-winner Molly Ringwald, with more artists to be announced as guest stars during the run.
The design team for this production includes Andrew Boyce (Scenic Designer), Johanna Pan (Costume Designer), Donald Holder (Lighting Designer), Milbo Music (Sound Designer), and Brittany Bland (Projections Designer).
ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN will host a series of post-show talkbacks featuring celebrated artists, directors, playwrights, and cultural leaders, moderated by theatre critic Michael Riedel (unless otherwise stated below). Scheduled guests include:
- Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award–winning playwright Robert Schenkkan (June 5)
- Playwright, screenwriter, and NYU Tisch professor Gordon Farrell (June 9)
- Journalist and political commentator John Podhoretz (June 10)
- Tony-nominated actress Judy Kuhn and Tony Award–winning playwright John Weidman (June 11 evening) New Yorker staff writer, essayist, and bestselling author Adam Gopnik (June 12)
- Tony-nominated director, actor, and writer Lonny Price (June 13 matinee)
- Tony Award–winning director Christopher Ashley (June 16)
- Tony-nominated stage and screen actor Arian Moayed (June 17 matinee, moderated by New Yorker theater critic and author Michael Schulman)
- CEO of Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan Rabbi Joanna Samuels (June 17 evening)
- Tony Award–winning playwright and actor Heidi Schreck (June 18, moderated by Michael Schulman) Tony Award–winning director Scott Ellis (June 19)
- Kate Draper, daughter of blacklist performer Paul Draper (June 20 matinee)
- Playwright, director, and founder of Tectonic Theater Project Moisés Kaufman (June 23) Actress Julie Garfield, daughter of blacklisted actor John Garfield (June 24 evening)
- Tony Award–winning playwright David Henry Hwang (June 25, moderated by Michael Schulman) Tony-nominated director Trip Cullman (June 26)
- Playwright and television writer Matthew Libby (June 30 evening)
- Playwright and screenwriter Mario Correa (July 2)
- Writer and educator Hasna Muhammad (July 5)
- Tony-nominated director and Artistic Director of PACNYC Bill Rauch (July 14)
- Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Beverly Gage (July 19)
- Tony-nominated director Leigh Silverman (July 21)
- Artistic director of The Public Theater Oskar Eustis (July 23, moderated by Robert Krulwich) Tony-nominated playwright and director Robert O’Hara (August 29 matinee)
- Tony Award–winning director Pam MacKinnon (September 2 evening)
- President of Wesleyan University and author Michael Roth (September 9 evening)
- Kate Lardner, daughter of blacklisted screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr. (September 10)
