Before the action begins, we can’t help but admire the details of the mid-Century living room where most of the action takes place (Set Design: Tom Burch). The couch, the coffee table, and even the Rothko knock-off in green rather than red — it’s just the kind of place where you expect martinis and highballs on the ready in a 50’s black and white film. In this case the drink du jour— and we suspect every jour, if not every hour, for Elia Kazan’s tense wife Day (Sarah Lynn Winter)— is Manhattans.
Day is hyper-tense because she fears her husband, famed Director Elia Kazan (Chip Carey) won’t stick to his guns in asking— no, TELLING— his close friend and oft artistic collaborator Art (Arthur Miller, played by Andrew Goins) not to name him when he is summoned to testify before the House of UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC).
McCarthy and HUAC had already divided and conquered the Hollywood elites, but had yet to sink its claws fully into Broadway. Kazan was a one-time party member who had long ago left the Party, disgusted by its Stalinist turn and the turn on him by those whom he had thought were not only comrades but friends. He was also by now a very famous film director, artistically driven to make films that matter, though unkind critics might imply his motives were more commercial in nature.
Arthur Miller is stopping by the Kazan’s Connecticut home en route to Massachusetts. The moment was laden by Kazan’s heavyweight film Streetcar Named Desire recently losing the Oscar to relatively lightweight American in Paris. Did HUAC play a hand?
There was far more at play between the two men. They were both sons of immigrants whose fathers had been successful before the ’29 crash. This primed them both to want to create art that decries capitalism.
It also led them to join the Communist Party literary circles— de facto for Miller, and de jure for Kazan.They both had a deep lust for Marilyn Monroe —later to be Miller’s wife— whom they had nicknamed Miss Bauer (Emma Roe).
Kudos to Burning Coal Theatre for Choosing to Shine a Light on McCarthyism in These Trumpian Times
Monroe flits in and out of scenes, always making for good eye candy. In this reviewer’s opinion, British playwright David Edgar’s need to insert Monroe into the story is emblematic of what we get in the script. Like the well-appointed mid-Century living room, Edgars has more than done his homework to drill down into the minutiae of who these two giants of stage and screen were, and HUAC history vis-a-vis the arts. It will help you enjoy the play if you are similarly steeped in this history, its players and the who-slept-with-who factoids.
If your recall of these details is hazy, Edgar’s script fills out your recall and then some, and then some more, and then some more still. Alas, you too might feel that this mountain of exposition tends to crowd out the drama. Let’s salute Burning Coal for staging this play in our McCarthy 2.0 time, though we may wish they had chosen instead to stage Miller’s play The Crucible, the very play that wearied Miller leaves the Kazan’s living room to research in Salem, Massachusetts.
Keep your eye out for LA actor (NC native) Chip Carey whose performance clears the script clutter deftly like an ice cutter ship in Alaska. He is Elia Kazan. Expect to wake up the day after the performance to read up on Kazan’s long artistic pedigree and search for his films for your Netflix playlist.
WHEN:
December 4 – 21, 2025
WHERE:
Burning Coal Theatre Company
224 Polk Street
Raleigh, NC 27604
TICKETS:
$5+
For more information and tickets visit the Burning Coal Theatre website.
Images courtesy of Burning Coal Theatre
CAST:
Art – Andrew Goins
Gadge – Chip Carey
Day – Sarah Winter
Miss Bauer – Emma Roe
CREATIVE TEAM:
Directed by Jerome Davis
Stage Manager – Rebecca Pearce
Lighting Designer – Matthew Adelson
Costumes & Props Designer – Lynda Clark
Scenic Designer – Tom Burch
Sound Designer – Juan Isler
TD/ME – Barry Jaked
Scenic Charge – Meredith Riggan
Asst. Directors – Natalie Cooper and Susan Gross
Asst. LD – Julianna Babcock
ASMs – Ella Bryant, Lauren Hess, Asia Mayfield
About the Author: Amy Munice
Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.
