Episode 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.