The Value of Names at New Jewish Theatre

This production asks how we deal with our moral convictions both in the past and in the present. Both political and personal, it is the story of two men, former friends, whose friendship ended as a result of the infamous McCarthy hearings before the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities. After Benny, a celebrated comic was named to the Hollywood blacklist of the Fifties, his career took a nosedive. Now, 30 years later, new circumstances force them to confront each other and explore their deepest feelings. Benny’s actress daughter has been cast in a play to be directed by the man who had testified against him. Suddenly he is forced to deal again with a moral crisis which he has tried to put behind him. When the two former friends meet, a confrontation ensues exposing a provocative and increasingly passionate exchange of ideas and convictions. It is a provocative and passionate and consistently engrossing story packing an almost overwhelming emotional wallop at the end.