Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?
Sat, Oct 17 · 8:00 PM Arena Stage · Southwest Waterfront
By Eric Bentley Directed by Anna D. Shapiro Kreeger Theater October 17 – December 6, 2026 Straight from Off-Broadway comes Eric Bentley's timely American docudrama, Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? , directed by Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro. This electrifying story drops you into the tense world of the 1940s House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, where fame offered no protection and political pressure could end a career. Using 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.
