Theatre History Podcast # 23
Is It Happening Here? Dr. Paul Gagliardi on the Return of the Federal Theatre Project’s It Can’t Happen Here
Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here tells the story of a fictional populist who rises to power and establishes a Fascist regime in the United States. The novel soon became a play, produced by Hallie Flanagan and the Federal Theatre Project. Some eighty years after the play premiered, it’s become a topic of conversation again because of its perceived relevance to the current political climate, and a number of theatre companies have revived it. Paul Gagliardi is an expert on the Federal Theatre Project, and his recent HowlRound article explores both the history of It Can’t Happen Here’s original run and the renewal of interest in it in the twenty-first century.
Links:
- Read Paul’s article, as well as David Dower’s conversation with Tony Taccone, Artistic Director at Berkeley Rep, which revived It Can’t Happen Here last year.
- Explore posters from productions of It Can’t Happen Here by various units of the Federal Theatre Project in the 1930s.
- Learn more about the premiere of It Can’t Happen Here in 1936.
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Comments
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These are great! Thanks Mike. Keep them up.