It Can't Happen Here

Written while the specter of European fascism became a menacing force of violence and intolerance in the United States, Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel rose to #4 on Amazon’s Bestseller List in the days following the 2017 inauguration of the 45th president. It Can’t Happen Here comes to life in a new stage adaptation offering a prescient, galvanizing vision of where we have been…and where we may be headed. In 1936 It Can’t Happen Here premiered in 21 theatres around the country on the exact same night. The powerhouse of a play was produced by the Federal Theatre Project (a theatre program established during the Great Depression as part of the New Deal to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United States). And while our opening night may not as grand, the eerie message of Sinclair Lewis’ novel still warrants the same concentrated unified mass notification. As we approach the presidential election, the dystopian friction captured in It Can’t Happen Here so clearly captures the feeling that all may not be well as it first appears.