Based entirely on verbatim transcripts of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), this intense 1972 docudrama exposes the paranoia of the 1950s Red Scare as prominent Hollywood artists and intellectuals are forced to choose between naming names or ruining their own careers.

The subject matter is a bit dry and the direction is uninspiringly video-driven, but these lengthy verbatim testimonies are packed full of subtext and the actors do great work with it. I expected Rotating Stars On Book slop and I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is an actual play. Norbert Leo Butz, TR Knight, Harry Lennix are all particular highlights, but the whole ensemble is strong.

Thematically, you’re looking at a chance to consider at length:

• the potential for abuse in positions of authority,
• why “if you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to hide” is neither a fair nor effective way to badger people,
• why due process is important, and
• whether you ought to tar and feather people for having (or having had) the wrong opinion.

The effectiveness and ethics of communism are not substantially broached, so I’m not sure there’s actually that much room for reasonable minds to disagree on the principle. It is uncontroversial to say that McCarthyism was not good. In that sense, it feels like the ceiling is lower than other pieces of verbatim theater; a queer cast doing “The Laramie Project,” for instance, hits a lot harder than actors with mainstream political opinions, a not-especially-contemporarily-persecuted group, doing a show about actors being witch-hunted.

I wouldn’t describe Are You Now… as one of the more urgent plays of 2026—but it’s not a bad watch at all, and I’d earnestly recommend it if you find the Red Scare period to be of historical interest. (Or if you think the names are worth coughing up $120. Hehe.)