Casting has been announced for this summer’s off-Broadway revival of Eric Bentley’s docudrama Are You Now or Have You Ever Been, running June 2-September 11 at New York City Center Stage I.
Six actors will perform the show for the duration of the run: Brooks Ashmanskas, Jason Babinsky, Steven Boyer, Adam Kantor, Frederick Weller, and Michael McKean. Melvin Abston, Noah Pyzik, and Bill Timoney have been cast as understudies.
In addition, the show will feature a rotating company of guest artists. First up, June 2-21, are David Krumholtz, Billy Eugene Jones, Andrew McCarthy, Sally Murphy, and Jay O. Sanders. Santino Fontana, T.R. Knight, Harry Lennix, Bob Odenkirk, Steven Pasquale, Molly Ringwald, and Thomas Sadoski will play dates to be determined.
The play uses transcripts of the testimony given by cultural figures like Arthur Miller, Jerome Robbins, Paul Robeson, Elia Kazan, Lillian Hellman, and Abe Burrows before the 1940s House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The title references the primary question posed to witnesses before that committee: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” It explores how these figures responded under pressure from a congressional committee–by defending their integrity, protecting their careers, and sometimes by ratting out their peers.
Tony winner Anna D, Shapiro (August: Osage County) directs the production.
The design team includes Andrew Boyce (scenic designer), Johanna Pan (costume designer), Donald Holder (lighting designer), Milbo Music (sound designer), and Brittany Bland (projections designer).
Eric Bentley was one of the great theater critics of the 20th century, largely credited with championing the work of Bertolt Brecht in the United States. He died in 2020, at the age of 103.
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