ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN? by Eric Bentley opens October 29th in the Ruth Caplin Theatre!

History, Conscience, and the Weight of Choice Take Center Stage in UVA Drama's Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? by Eric Bentley

The cast of UVA Drama's opening production of the 2026-27 season
 steps into the lives and dilemmas of Hollywood's HUAC witnesses 
in Bentley’s documentary play, directed by Dave Dalton.

Production Credits & Ticket Links!

Would you sacrifice your career and risk your family’s financial security to protect your political associations or those of friends or colleagues? Or would you cooperate with a coercive congressional investigation to preserve the life you had built at the expense of your own convictions?

UVA Drama explores these questions in Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? by Eric Bentley, directed by Dave Dalton, running October 29–November 7 in the Ruth Caplin Theatre.

Drawing on congressional testimony and other historical records, Bentley’s documentary play examines the human impact of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigations of Hollywood actors, writers, directors, and other entertainment professionals during the late 1940s and 1950s. The hearings forced individuals to confront extraordinary choices, often pitting personal convictions against professional survival.

For Dalton, associate professor of acting and directing, this production presents the opportunity to explore not only what happened, but what it felt like to live through it. He notes that Bentley appears to have written the play for audiences who would recognize its historical figures and already know their stories. More than seven decades later, the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Hollywood blacklist may remain familiar reference points in American history, but the individuals involved - and the circumstances surrounding their decisions - are less widely understood.

Research has been an essential part of the rehearsal process for Dalton and the cast, revealing the evolving legal strategies employed by witnesses, the personal circumstances that shaped their decisions, and the complex consequences of their testimony. While some witnesses became celebrated for their resistance, others cooperated with the committee to preserve their careers.

Dalton is particularly interested in the difficult moral territory between those extremes. “The play does a great job of presenting the dilemma that many of these actors, producers, and writers were in to preserve their careers,” he said.

Rather than dividing the historical figures into heroes and villains, the production invites audiences to follow the students as they investigate the political climate of the era and the perspectives of committee members, alongside the personal and professional pressures faced by witnesses whose livelihoods, families, and reputations were at stake.

The production also employs what Dalton calls “expressive staging,” using movement, music, and physical relationships to make the psychological pressures of the hearings visible. Students have contributed their own creative ideas to this approach. Dalton recalls a rehearsal in which a student observed that hearing names read aloud onstage made the ensemble feel as though they themselves were being named before the committee. That observation helped shape the production’s physical staging.

“The students have contributed an impressive level of creativity to the staging throughout the rehearsal process,” Dalton said.

Ultimately, Dalton hopes audiences will come away with a greater understanding of the human stakes of the hearings, as well as the questions about government authority, individual rights, and political expression that remain at the heart of Bentley’s play.

PERFORMANCE INFO

October 29-30 & Nov 4-7, 8pm – Ruth Caplin Theatre
Tickets: $18 General Admission | $16 Faculty / Staff / Seniors
Free Arts$ tickets for UVA students - reserve yours at least 24 hours in advance!
Reserve tickets at artsboxoffice.virginia.edu

Production 

Parking for UVA Drama productions is available in the Culbreth Garage, directly across from the theatre building. The garage is equipped with an elevator for your convenience.

Photo by Kori Price

ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN? is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com