Penned when fascism was on the rise in Europe, Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here, a populist presidential candidate named Berzelius Windrip defeats FDR by running a campaign built on the promise of returning America to greatness. After winning the election, Windrip outlaws dissent, trains and arms his own paramilitary group and imprisons his political opponents. Adapted for the stage in 1936, the play follows a liberal, middle-class newspaper editor from Vermont—Doremus Jessup—who works to undermine the new Windrip regime with the power of the pen and an underground pamphlet. It all sounds so crazy, right?
It Can’t Happen Here
Thu, 7:30pm, $10+
Lohman Theatre, Foothill College
