‘It Can’t Happen Here,’ a Famous Novel by Sinclair Lewis will be Acted Out This Coming Weekend by Island Theatre Thespians

Island Theatre Bainbridge (as Island Theatre at the Library) presents “It Can’t Happen Here,” a dramatic adaptation of the famous 1935 novel by the Pulitzer Prize- and Nobel Prize- winning novelist Sinclair Lewis at the Bainbridge Island Public Library this coming weekend. The story is set in the period just before World War II and is a fascinating cautionary dark satire about the fragility of democracy and how fascism can take hold even in the land of liberty.

Performances take place at the Bainbridge Public Library on Saturday, October 19 at 7:00 pm and Sunday, October 20 at 3:00 pm. Admission is by minimum donation of $5. No reservations are necessary. It is recommended for high school age and up.

This dramatic presentation was adapted by local director Wilson Milam and he will be joined onstage by Island Theatre veterans, actors Jackie O’Brien, Helen Heaslip and Steve Stolee in a staged, script-in-hand performance.

IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE 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. Sinclair Lewis’ eerily prescient 1935 novel gets a fresh update in this adaptation that examines what brings a citizenry to the point of sacrificing its own freedom and how a courageous few can prevail to overcome the fall.

More information is available at islandtheatre.org and

About Island Theatre. Island Theatre provides high-quality theater in intimate settings for adults who like to think. Our regular schedule includes Island Theatre at the Library (staged play readings at the Bainbridge Public Library); Island Theatre at Your House (YoHo) (potluck play-readings in private homes at which guests are welcome to read a part); and the annual Island Theatre Ten-Minute Play Festival. Run entirely by volunteers, Island Theatre is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization supported by donations, the Bainbridge Community Foundation, the City of Bainbridge Island Cultural Fund, the Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island, and One Call for All. More information is at www.IslandTheatre.org.

Showtimes at the Library

Saturday, October 19 @ 7 p.m.

Sunday, October 20 @ 3 p.m.

Bainbridge Public Library, 1270 Madison Ave. N.

Suggested minimum donation: $5

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