When Eric Bentley’s play about the Hollywood blacklist was first mounted in 1972, the now-infamous House Un-American Activities Committee was still around,  and so were  most of the entertainment professionals whose careers were destroyed or friendships ruined after they were forced before the committee to answer the question: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?” and to “name names” of those they knew to be communists.

In this revival, a rotating cast of well-known actors portray some two dozen of these “witnesses” and their interrogators, the script carefully assembled from the verbatim transcripts of hearings conducted between 1947 and 1956.

“Are You Now or Have You Been” has its moments of drama and outrage, even some humor, within its no-nonsense, just-the-facts sensibility and design. There is a  terrific trio of heavies, committee interrogators  led by the chairman, portrayed by Michael McKean.   But it plays out differently in 2026, in complicated ways. Part of it is that for many audience members now, the hearings are distant history, in need of more context than was deemed necessary half a century ago,

A few of the historical figures remain familiar, and a very few of the lines have become part of historical memory, most notably playwright Lillian Hellman (portrayed by Sally Murphy) refusing to name names: “I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.”  It’s a stirring monologue for Murphy, but it might be worth noting that Hellman did not actually say this at a hearing; she wrote it as a letter.

This is in contrast with fiery and fearless exchanges that Billy Eugene Jones as Paul Robeson has with the committee

“You are here because you are promoting the Communist cause,” a committeeman (Jason Babinsky) says.
“I am here because I am opposing the neo-Fascist cause. Jefferson could be sitting here,and Frederick Douglass could be sitting here, and Eugene Debs could be sitting here.”

Some of the stand-out moments in the play for me, at the performance I attended, were from figures that have faded from memory (some of them forgotten precisely because they were blacklisted.)

Among these were Thomas Sadoski as the energetic, witty Lionel Stander, an actor and founding member of the Screen Actors Guild. who insisted on testifying before the committee in 1953, thirteen years after he was first forced to do so – and saw his career plummet. “Just to have my name appear in association with this Committee! It’s like the Spanish Inquisition,” Stander says. “You may not be burned but you can’t help coming away a little singed.” 

The three-member investigative team soberly insist that he give them information  ‘which will enable us to do the work assigned to us by the House of Representatives: to investigate reports regarding subversive activities in the United States.”

“I am more than willing to cooperate, “ Stander interrupts. “I have knowledge of subversive action! I know of a group of fanatics who are trying to undermine the Constitution of the United States by depriving artists of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness without due process of law! I can cite instances! I can tell names. I am one of the first victims, if you are interested. A group of ex-Bundists, America Firsters, and antisemites, people who hate everybody, Negroes, minority groups, and most likely themselves.”

It’s hard not to cheer such clever combativeness, and feel  stunned by the relevant references (American Firsters! Antisemites!)

Yet, the relevance also gave me pause.

I saw this production right after reading an article in the Atlantic magazine entitled “There’s Nothing Democratic About These Socialists,” written shortly after the New York primary election successes of a couple of DSA members.  In it, author Jonathan Chait details some of the extremist views and disturbing actions of one of the winners, Darializa Avila Chevalier; he  argues that the “communist influx” into the Democratic Socialists of America has “realigned the organization in firm opposition to liberal democracy” and in support of authoritarian regimes; he maintains that the DSA plans to take over the Democratic Party in order to “form its own party, after which the husk of the old Democratic Party would wither and die.”

Then shortly after attending the revival, I read that  Donald Trump said in a speechd that Democrats had become “hardcore, godless communists,” which is “the most serious threat to our country since its existence.” 

I feel comfortable dismissing Trump’s efforts to revive McCarthy-era Red-baiting for a new generation. But is that what Chait is doing? Are his concerns worth taking seriously.

And this made me wonder about Bentley’s play. Although the testimony is verbatim from the “friendly witnesses” who named names, it’s made clear repeatedly that we are meant to see nothing honorable in what any of them did; at best, they may deserve pity for being weak

Two examples, both portrayed by Frederick Weller. In 1951, Sterling Hayden tells the committee “I appreciate very much, very, very much, the opportunity to appear here today” in service to his country. Then, twelve years later, he bitterly regrets being convinced by his psychiatrist to have named names. “I was a rat, a stoolie, and the names I listed—some of those, close friends—were blacklisted and deprived of their livelihood.”

Elia Kazan also named names, and apparently expressed no regrets about it. But one of the people he named, Tony Kraber ( Brooks Ashmanskas) sure does.

Investigator (Babinsky): Mr. Elia Kazan testified that he was recruited into a Communist Party organization within the Group Theatre by Tony Kraber.
Tony Kraber: Is this the Kazan that signed the contract for $500,000 the day after he gave names to this committee.
Investigator: Would it change the facts if he did?
Tony Kraber:Would you sell your brothers for $500,000?

There are no such self-serving implications with another friendly witness, Jerome Robbins, who says he is cooperating as an act of conscience. “I think I made a great mistake in entering the Communist Party. I feel I am now doing the right thing as an America.” But even here, a committeeman (Adam Kantor) thanks him for his testimony, compliments him for “promoting Americanism in contrast to Communism” and suggests he put that Americanism into his ballets.

“Sir, all my works have been acclaimed for their American quality particularly.”
“But let me urge you to put even more of that in it.”

So even Robbins’ scene is used to emphasize what bozos these supposed anti-Communist crusaders.

My personal view is that they likely were all bozos or worse; we’re certainly encouraged to conclude that; we’re told that the chairman of the committee, J. Parnell Thomas, was eventually jailed for embezzlement, serving in the same prison to which he had sent the writer Ring Lardner for refusing to testify.  But it might have made a more durable play if it had included some more solid indication of why the committee existed — why the times and the public allowed it.

Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?
New York City Center Stage 1 through September 11
Running time: One hour and 45 minutes with no intermission
Tickets: $69 – $179
By Eric Bentley
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro
Andrew Boyce (Scenic Designer), Johanna Pan (Costume Designer), Donald Holder (Lighting Designer), Milbo Music (Sound Designer), and Brittany Bland (Projections Designer).
Cast (at the performance I attended)
:Frederick Weller as Man 1 (Sam G. Wood, Sterling Hayden, Elia Kazan, Elliott Sullivan, Arthur Miller)
Brooks Ashmanskas as Man 2 (Edward Dmytryk, Tony Kraber, Martin Berkeley)
Steven Boyer as Man 3 (Ring Lardner Jr., Jose Ferrer, Jerome Robbins, Marc Lawrence)
Jason Babinsky as Committeeman 2
Michael McKean as Chairman
Adam Kantor as Committeeman 1 
Ben Rappaport as Larry Parks
Scott Adsit as Abe Burrows
Sally Murphy as Lillian Hellman
Thomas Sadoski as Lionel Stander
Billy Eugene Jones as Paul Robeson

post-show talkbacks

• 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.  (Septem

Joining the cast for future dates,  Norbert Leo Butz, Santino Fontana, T.R. Knight,  Harry Lennix, Bob Odenkirk,  Steven Pasquale,  Molly Ringwald,