A Dark Time In Our History
Image courtesy of Chicago Public Library website
For those of you who watched the 2026 Academy Awards or have seen the YouTube video of Barbra Streisand’s tribute to the late Robert Redford, her comments revolved around the movie The Way We Were.
“I’m thrilled now that The Way We Were is considered a classic love story, but it’s also about a dark time in our history, the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, when people were informing on each other and subject to loyalty oaths,” she said.
Known as the “Red Scare,” Washington was on a witch hunt for communists among the creative artists, writers, and reporters in Hollywood, on Broadway, and in the media.
Hundreds of talented Americans were blackballed, sidelined, and subjected to brutal questioning by Senator Joseph McCarthy in open hearings. During this period of “McCarthyism,” reputations were ruined, livelihoods decimated, and individuals destroyed by innuendo, deliberate misinformation, fearmongering, and, as Streisand noted, people informing on each other, often to save their own skin or sink a rival.
Image courtesy of City Lit Theater Company website
The Edgewater-based City Lit Theater Company, and Friends Community Partner, has a tale of the “Red Scare” on stage with its production of Changing Channels, by Chicago-based playwright John Reeger, and directed by Kevin Theis.
Come meet the play’s central character, actress and talented comedienne Maggie Carlin, who is on the verge of stardom when the “Red Scare” knocks on her door. What happens? Will she survive? Does her star shine again? The only way to find out is to see the play.
Currently on stage at City Lit through April 12, 2026. Info, tickets, and reserved parking here.
— Blog Post by Friends Member Joanna Broussard
— Resource List prepared by Friends Member Barbara Lanctot
For More Information
Download “Red Scare and McCarthyism” Resource List
Chicago Public Library search on McCarthyism