Anna D. Shapiro Will Direct Are You Now or Have You Ever Been Off-Broadway, Featuring Rotating Cast

A new production of Eric Bentley’s 1972 play, Are You Now or Have You Ever Been, will play a limited 15-week engagement at New York City Center Stage I beginning June 2.

A rotating all-star cast to be announced will be part of the docudrama that drops audiences into the tense world of the 1940s House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings. Using only the original transcripts, the play features the words of 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. 

Tony winner Anna D. Shapiro (Eureka Day, The Minutes, August: Osage County) will direct.

“I first encountered Are You Now or Have You Ever Been when I directed it at my small theatre in Chicago during college,” said Shapiro in a statement. “It was such a great experience then—filled with intensity and terror—and I’m so ready to wrestle with it again, now, a time of more threat to our freedoms than I’ve experienced in my lifetime. With this incredible rotating company, it’s sure to be a thrilling—and scary—experience.”

The upcoming production will also have scenic design by Andrew Boyce, costume design by Johanna Pan, lighting design by Donald Holder, sound design by Milbo Music, and projections design by Brittany Bland.

Are You Now or Have You Ever Been played a 32-performance run on Broadway at the Century Theatre in February and March 1979 directed by John Bettenbender.

Bentley was honored with a 2006 Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement. He also wrote extensively on drama and performance with works including the 1946 book The Playwright as Thinker, which helped define modern theatre criticism.

Jeffrey Richards, Rebecca Gold, and Ira Pittelman are producing.

For ticket information, visit AreYouNowPlay.com.