It’s not unusual for a production to enlist a rotating cast of famous or moderately recognizable actors. But with the new off-Broadway staging of Eric Bentley’s “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been” now at New York City Center, the main attraction may be the renowned characters they play.Bentley, also a noted critic and scholar, wrote “Are You Now,” first published in 1972, as a response to one of the most shameful episodes in our nation’s history, when a House of Representatives committee summoned hundreds of artists to ask that infamous question—which ended, of course, with “a Communist.” Subtitled “The Investigation of Show Business by the Un-American Activities Committee, 1947-1958,” the play uses the original transcripts of such giants as Arthur Miller, Jerome Robbins, and Elia Kazan, whose greatness as a director remains tarnished by his willingness to cooperate — and particularly to implicate others, as witnesses were encouraged to do. The new production, helmed by Broadway veteran Anna D. Shapiro and subtitled simply “An American Docudrama” in the program, features a bevy of accomplished troupers, with others scheduled to join during its 15-week run. Current cast member Andrew McCarthy, best known for his roles in 1980s films such as “Pretty in Pink,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,” and “Weekend at Bernie’s,” turns in a powerful performance early on as Larry Parks, a once popular actor now most widely remembered for testifying under duress, and being blacklisted despite his eventual cooperation.Initially a picture of strained composure, Mr. McCarthy’s Parks is slowly broken by the relentless hectoring of the committee chairman, played with cool menace by Michael McKean, and his two colleagues, whose more obvious eagerness is well conveyed by Jason Babinsky and Adam Kantor. As he is pressed to name names, Parks emphasizes both Hollywood’s vulnerability and its record of service; he compares the investigations to “taking a pot shot at a wounded animal,” noting, “When our country has needed help, the industry has been in the forefront of that help!”Director Edward Dmytryk and screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr., members of the Hollywood Ten — a group of writers, directors, and producers who refused to cooperate and were consequently imprisoned as well as blacklisted — are more hostile in their resistance, and Brooks Ashmanskas and Frederick Weller respectively evince their righteous rage, in addition to juggling other roles.As Brittany Bland’s projection design splashes newspaper headlines behind the players, we’re introduced to some of the more renowned participants. Robbins, who by many accounts was as miserable a person as he was a brilliant artist, sings like a bird; Steven Boyer, who also plays various parts, sustains an air of smug detachment while doing so. Abe Burrows, the Pulitzer Prize-winning co-writer of “Guys and Dolls” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” proves comically evasive; in the role, David Krumholtz evokes a New York-bred humorist of a certain era with delightful authenticity.The most potent testimony arrives later in this one-act piece. Sally Murphy is characteristically compelling as Lillian Hellman, reciting from a letter the playwright drafted explaining that she would answer for herself but not name others, including the now famous line, “I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.” Jay O. Sanders, just as predictably, brings wit and heft to the part of character actor Lionel Stander, whose arguments are among the most impassioned in the show.But none of the words documented here ring with more moral authority than those of Paul Robeson, the performer, athlete, and civil rights and peace activist remembered for his integrity, eloquence, and fearlessness, all of which made him one of HUAC’s formidable opponents. Portrayed here by a spry, scalding Billy Eugene Jones, Robeson succeeds in drawing out the bigotry underlining the chairman’s superficial patriotism and false piety. “You are the author of bills that are going to keep all kinds of decent people out of the country,” Robeson charges, to which the chairman responds, “No, only your kind.” Robeson swings back: “Colored people like myself. And just the Teutonic Anglo-Saxon stock you would let come in.” The chairman, undaunted, replies, “We are trying to make it easier to get rid of your kind, too!”This exchange will remind viewers of comments and controversies that have inspired outrage over the past decade. It’s surely no coincidence that “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been” has returned at this juncture, and it continues to raise questions and provide warnings for all of us, regardless of political orientation.
