One-Man Historical Theatre
Paul Robeson 1956 HUAC Hearing Reenactment by Lawrence Beamen
A one-man historical theatre reenactment turned box-office musical
Created, produced, memorized and performed by Lawrence Beamen
From the hearing room
ABOUT: Paul Robeson was accused by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) of being a Communist, holding un-American sympathies, and making statements critical of U.S. foreign and racial policies during the Cold War. As a result, the U.S. government revoked both his passport and his wife’s passport, preventing them from traveling internationally for several years.
Footage arriving
Paul Robeson Hearing footage and audience response video appear here once added in the Artist Studio.
Synopsis
In 1956, internationally acclaimed actor, singer, athlete and activist Paul Robeson appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee after refusing to surrender his beliefs during one of America's most politically turbulent eras.
Drawing directly from the official hearing transcripts, Lawrence Beamen has memorized the entire HUAC testimony and reenacts the extraordinary confrontation between one of America's greatest artists and the government that sought to silence him. Two actors portray the committee judges who question Robeson, while Negro spirituals are woven between hearing segments, turning the testimony into a full box-office musical theatre experience.
Created and produced by Lawrence Beamen, the production explores artistic freedom, civil rights, patriotism, and the responsibility of artists to speak truth in the face of injustice.
- Format
- One-man historical theatre · approx. 75 minutes, no interval
- Source
- Official House Un-American Activities Committee transcripts, 1956
- Suited to
- Theatres, universities, civic halls, museums and concert series
- Programming
- Black History Month, civil rights and artistic-freedom seasons
Historical Context
Who was Paul Robeson?
Paul Leroy Robeson (1898–1976) was one of the most accomplished Americans of the twentieth century: an All-American athlete, a Columbia-trained lawyer, a Shakespearean actor, a concert bass-baritone who brought Negro spirituals to the world's great halls, and a fluent speaker of more than a dozen languages.
He was also a man who refused to trade his conscience for his career. Robeson campaigned against lynching and colonialism and for labour and civil rights at a time when doing so cost an artist everything. The State Department revoked his passport in 1950; concert halls closed to him; recordings were pulled. He kept speaking.
The 1956 HUAC hearing is the sharpest surviving record of that refusal. The Supreme Court's decision in Kent v. Dulles restored his passport in 1958, but the years of suppression had taken their toll. His legacy — artistic excellence inseparable from moral courage — is the ground on which The Paul Robeson Hearing stands.
1898
Born in Princeton, New Jersey, the son of a minister who had escaped slavery.
1919
Graduates Rutgers as valedictorian and a two-time football All-American.
1923
Earns a law degree from Columbia University while performing on the New York stage.
1925
Gives the first concert of an all-Negro-spiritual programme by a solo recitalist.
1928
Sings "Ol' Man River" in the London Show Boat — the definitive account of the song.
1933
Stars in the film of The Emperor Jones, a landmark for a Black leading man.
1943
Opens on Broadway as Othello, the longest-running Shakespeare production in Broadway history.
1950
The State Department revokes his passport; eight years of enforced silence follow.
1956
Appears before the House Un-American Activities Committee and refuses to yield.
1958
Kent v. Dulles restores his passport; he resumes concerts abroad.
1976
Dies in Philadelphia, his reputation reclaimed by later generations.