Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?
Arena Stage
Jordan Wright
October 30, 2026
Greg Stuhr (Man 2), Peter Jacobson (Abe Burrows), Stephen Cefalu Jr. (Man 3), Aaron Bliden (Larry Parks), Edward L. Simon (Man 1), Jason Babinsky (Committeeman 2), John Leslie Wolfe (Chairman), and Philip Earl Johnson (Committee Man 1) in Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater (Photo/Teresa Castracane).
In a foreboding parallel to our current political climate, Anna D. Shapiro directs playwright Eric Bentley’s gut-wrenching production that is guaranteed to set your teeth on edge. I’m calling these political dramas ‘merging media’. Why? Because our daily headlines are chock-a-block with relevance to the hearings that began in the late 1930’s and continued intermittently through 1975 by the men who created watchlists while unceremoniously trampling on U.S. citizens’ rights to free speech – all under the guise of chasing down communists and, in the process, discriminating against Black Americans. It proved to be a very dark moment in American history and is remembered as a campaign of intimidation, blacklisting, and outrageous government overreach. This docudrama focuses on the hearings conducted in the 1940’s assailing Hollywood and the entertainment industry, though over the years many industries and unions were targeted by these committees.
Known as the “Hollywood Ten”, we are introduced to each witness as they come before this draconian committee. This is the actual transcript of the screenwriters, actors and directors as well as the very real accusatory questioning from their interrogators. [See cast listings below for the characters who appear]. This intensely hostile questioning from the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) hearings was a terrifying time for many Americans, some who worked together, others who socialized with each other, and still others who toyed with the halcyon concepts floated by Communist operatives who had created slick promotional campaigns to recruit idealists and their friends.
Kevin Mambo (Paul Robeson) (Photo/Teresa Castracane).
Questions are posed by three prominent politicos – McCarthy, as well as the committee chairman, and one another committeeman. During these hearings cameras had recorded witness testimonies while daily newspapers screeched results in 50-point typeset headlines. (You may recall Richard Nixon made his bones as a member of the committee.) Blasted as “Commies” and “Reds”, industry leaders and well-loved Hollywood actors and screenwriters were hunted down and intimidated destroying careers and reputations as witnesses were forced to name names of anyone they thought were Communists or had met at informal meetings. Many of the witnesses eventually broke down throwing out names to placate the committee and get themselves off the hook.
The parallel here is the current purge of Federal employees by the American Accountability Foundation (funded in large part by the Heritage Foundation). AAF’s activities are responsible for the firing, purging and resulting blacklisting of tens of thousands of Federal employees – disproportionally women and people of color – in their quest to destroy DEI initiatives through their trumped up “watch list”. Sound familiar? Feel free to read more about them. I did a deep dive and was alarmed at their influence.
Rivka Borek (Lillian Hellman) (Photo/Teresa Castracane).
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been – An American Docudrama is a fiercely important play that should be required viewing by those who remember these terrible times but need a refresher course, and those who think these kinds of attacks on personal freedoms died in the dustbin of history.
Supremely acted by a perfectly in synch cast who bring to life this shameful period in American government.
Edward L. Simon (Man 1), Rivka Borek (Lillian Hellman), Peter Jacobson (Abe Burrows), Jeff Still (Lionel Stander), Jason Babinsky (Committeeman 2), John Leslie Wolfe (Chairman), and Philip Earl Johnson (Committee Man 1) (Photo/Teresa Castracane).
Man 1 (Sam G. Wood, Sterling Hayden, Elia Kazan, Elliot Sullivan, Arthur Miller) Edward L. Simon; Man 2 (Edward Dmytryk, Tony Kraber, Martin Berkely) Greg Stuhr; Man 3 (Ring Lardner Jr., José Ferrer, Jerome Robbins, Marc Lawrence) Stephen Cefalu Jr.; Committeeman 2 – Jason Babinsky; Chairman – John Leslie Wolfe; Committee Man 1 – Philip Earl Johnson; Larry Parks – Aaron Bliden; Abe Burrows – Peter Jacobson; Lillian Hellman – Rivka Borek; Lionel Stander – Jeff Still; Paul Robeson – Kevin Mambo.
Set Design by Andrew Boyce; Costume Design by Johanna Pan; Lighting Design by Donald Holder; Sound Designers Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen; Projection Design by Brittany Bland; Hair and Wig Design by Brittany Hartman.
Through December 6th at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call the box office at 202.488.3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org