It Can't Happen Here

BarnArts Fall Staged-Reading Tour of IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE directed by Maureen Hennigan

Lewis’s satirical novel depicts a fascist takeover of the United States after a populist candidate defeats FDR for the 1936 Democratic nomination. The protagonist, Doremus Jessup, is an aging newspaper editor who decides to make a stand and use the press as a weapon against dictatorship, which winds him up in a military prison. Former Barnard resident Sinclair Lewis – the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature – created It Can’t Happen Here between the Great Depression and World War 2, when characters such as Huey Long, Father Charles Coughlin, and “America Firster” Charles Lindbergh sought to isolate America from the rest of the world even as obvious threats to both democracy and Western civilization were on the march.

All performances will follow current state guidelines for outdoor public events, including limited 150 capacity, cordoned off stage and seating areas with ample space and guidance for 6 feet of distance between small groups and controlled entrance and exits. Masks will be required in our performance area and our staff and performers will be wearing masks, except while performing. Our performance space will be a minimum of 12 feet from the audience.

BarnArts produced a stage production of this same play in June 2018 and the current cast will be blend of returning and new actors. The 2018 production was held outdoors on a farm in Barnard just down the road from where Sinclair Lewis wrote the book in 1935. Here is an article in 7-Days on the original production: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/barnarts-stages-timely-production-of-it-cant-happen-here/Content?oid=16884189

Lewis’s satirical novel depicts a fascist takeover of the United States after a populist candidate defeats FDR for the 1936 Democratic nomination. The protagonist, Doremus Jessup, is an aging newspaper editor who decides to make a stand and use the press as a weapon against dictatorship, which winds him up in a military prison. Former Barnard resident Sinclair Lewis – the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature – created It Can’t Happen Here between the Great Depression and World War 2, when characters such as Huey Long, Father Charles Coughlin, and “America Firster” Charles Lindbergh sought to isolate America from the rest of the world even as obvious threats to both democracy and Western civilization were on the march.

BarnArts was originally motivated to produce the play partly due to the political climate but also because of the local connection, and these reasons still drive this traveling 2020 version. The story was written by Lewis while he was living in Barnard, it takes place in Vermont, and is full of local Vermont characters: humble and egotistical revolutionaries of all types to fit the 1930’s class turmoil. The lead character, Doremus Jessup, represents the stolid eyes of wisdom in contrast to the propaganda-manipulated working class and the elite power-hungry. BarnArts performs the 2016 Berkeley Repertory Theater commissioned adaptation of Lewis’s novel by Taccone and Cohen.

While BarnArts original cast were eighteen actors, ranging in age from 8 to 65, the current cast will be a lean 13 adult actors switching up over 30 roles in a fast-paced narrative of hope, defeat, loss, revenge and renewal that dissects the “what if?” limitations of American Democracy.

A notorious social critic and cultural satirist, Lewis had already established his literary credentials by the time his new novel was released, but much of the credit for his latest creation belonged to his wife, a foreign correspondent whose star was rising just as Lewis’s was descending. Journalist Dorothy Thompson was considered the second most influential woman in America after Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1930’s and 40’s. She interviewed Adolf Hitler before he came to power and was later expelled from Germany for belittling him in the press and exposing his authoritarian ambitions. She found refuge at Twin Farms, the home she shared with Lewis in Barnard, Vermont, where she continued to speak out about the increasing likelihood of world war and the plight of European refugees. Thompson’s experiences and reporting motivated Sinclair Lewis to do similar work, but in his own genre – fiction – and he wrote It Can’t Happen Here at a fevered pace in the summer of 1935 at Twin Farms in Barnard.

It is a special historical event, taking It Can’t Happen Here on the road in Vermont, the state where the story was written, during a year of upheaval and just before a challenging presidential election. The performance coincides with local filmmaker Teo Zagar’s production of a documentary about Thompson and Lewis that may feature scenes from BarnArts’ production. The film, Without Fear or Favor: Dorothy Thompson’s Warnings to the West, is also sponsored by BarnArts and a teaser can be viewed at www.withoutfearorfavorfilm.com.