The Return to Morality
Jamie Pachino
It Can't Happen Here
by Bennett S Cohen, Sinclair Lewis, Tony Taccone, John C. Moffit
Highlights
120 mins 1930s Ensemble Cast Expandable Casting Flexible Cast Size Unit Set/Multiple Settings Period Costumes American Adaptation
Synopsis
From the back cover: Sinclair Lewis' eerily prescient 1935 novel gets a fresh update in this stage adaptation that examines what brings citizenry to the point of sacrificing its own freedom and how a courageous few can prevail to overcome the fall.
A cautionary dark satire about the fragility of democracy and how fascism can take hold even in the 'land of liberty,' the plot follows the ascent of a demagogue who becomes President of the United States by promising to return the country to greatness.
Witnessing the new President's tyranny from the sidelines is a liberal, middle-class newspaper editor from Vermont who trusts the system will fix itself - until he ends up in a prison camp.
Flexible staging and casting - even with some audience participation - help make IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE a remarkable theatrical event.
Press Reviews
"It Can't Happen Here [drives] relentlessly toward believable, shudder-worthy horrors."
— East Bay Express
"A thought-provoking and effective reminder that democracies are fragile things."
— SFist
"Deeply relatable… harrowing… [It Can't Happen Here's] point [is] that demagogues flourish when thinking but complacent members of a society fail to rise up and act as a collective."
— San Francisco Chronicle
Characters
| Character |
|---|
| Adelaide Tarr Gimmitch |
| Lorinda Pike |
| Crowd Member 1 |
| Crowd Member 2 |
| Doremus Jessup |
| Frank Tasbrough |
| R.C. Crowley |
| David Greenhill Offstage |
| Emma Jessup |
| Mary Jessup Greenhill |
| Sissy Jessup |
| Julian Falck |
| Philip Jessup |
| Dr. Fowler Greenhill |
| Radio Announcer Offstage |
| Bishop Prang |
| Buck Titus |
| Shad Ledue |
| Man 1 |
| Man 2 |
| Man 3 |
| Man 4 |
| Man 5 |
| Woman 1 |
| Woman 2 |
+ 26 more characters
Publication
Publisher Dramatists Play Service
Year 2017
Binding Paperback
Pages 103
Language English
ISBN-13 9780822237068
ISBN-10 0822237067
LCC PS3570.A236 I8 2017
It Can't Happen Here is a American adaptation play written by Bennett S Cohen and published by Dramatists Play Service (2017).
Digital editions available on Amazon Kindle .
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Performance Rights
Available for Licensing
Amateur & Professional
Fee: Minimum Fee: $130 per performance
Restrictions: Major Markets Plus (US) / Standard Plus Add'l Postcodes (UK)
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