Seeing Red: Lakewood Library

[Phil Florian]

I was unable to see Great Lake Theater Festival's touring show, Seeing Red on Monday at the Lakewood Library so I went to see it today at Clague Playhouse. In brief, it is a story that covers a good hunk of the 40 years existence of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee by re-enacting testimony from a number of witnesses, including the great Paul Robeson, a young Ronald Reagan and finally Arthur Miller.

The show is free and was done to a nearly packed house. I was easily one of the youngest in the audience and I am nearly 40. What was neat was to hear some of these folks talking about the time period that they actually lived through. The show ends with a discussion with the actors and one of the reps from GLTF. What was neat is that some folks remember it and feared what was said, another didn't remember even knowing of any Communist threat and yet another remembered having her garbage gone through by FBI agents that marked her as a person at risk in 1970 for participating in a Marxist discussion group. Cool! History replayed and then reflected back at the show by people who were there.

Anyway, it shows at 7 PM at the Lakewood Library on Monday and is a neat show that is well worth the time (and certainly the money...it is free!).

Enjoy!

Phil

PS Learned some trivia. I was one of the folks that incorrectly connected McCarthy with the HUAC and that wasn't the case...he was a Senator and had his own red-scare committee. The blur of history...