SFMT celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Federal Theatre Project's seminal anti-fascist play

"It Can't Happen Here"

Monday, October 24th, 7:00 pm

FREE - Donations Welcome!
SPACE IS LIMITED - YOU MUST RSVP!
email Jenee Gill or call 415-285-1717 to reserve seats

On October 27, 1936, "It Can't Happen Here" opened in 22 theaters in 18 cities across the nation. The play, which was adapted by Sinclair Lewis from his best-selling novel of the same name, eventually ran for a total of 260 weeks and was seen by more than 316,000 people. Hallie Flanagan, director of the Federal Theatre Project - a program of the WPA, and the only National Theatre the U.S. has ever had - said this about the play: "We want to do 'It Can't Happen Here' because it is about American life today, based on a passionate belief in American democracy. The play says that when dictatorship comes to threaten such a democracy, it comes in an apparently harmless guise, with parades and promises; but that when such dictatorship arrives, the promises are not kept and the parade grounds become encampments."

In the 1936 nationwide premiere of "It Can't Happen Here," each participating theater produced its own interpretation of the play. The Birmingham production mounted the show as a political rally. The Yiddish productions played off of what was happening in Europe at the time. The 'Negro" production in Seattle and the Spanish-language production in Tampa both focused on the effects of a white dictatorship on minorities.

SFMT is one of over a dozen theatres across the country that will be participating in this anniversary reading. Amazingly (frighteningly), the content and theme of this 75 year-old play could not be more timely!

For a full schedule of readings across the country, see the Facebook page for the Nationwide Reading of It Can't Happen Here.