A World Premiere Play Reading
IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE
Adapted by Mary Jane Hansen
From the 1930s novel by SINCLAIR LEWIS
IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE is a cautionary tale about the rise of fascism in the United States. During the presidential election of 1936, Doremus Jessup, a small town newspaper editor, observes with dismay that many of the people he knows support the candidacy of the demagogue Berzelius Windrip. When Windrip wins the election, he forcibly gains control of Congress and the Supreme Court and, with the aid of his personal paramilitary storm troopers, turns America into a totalitarian state. A $5 reservation guarantees you a seat.