By Shay Lelonek / News Director

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – KVSC Radio is presenting a dramatic reading of “It Can’t Happen Here,” as part of a national effort to try to have a city in each state deliver the story to replicate the time when the stage version of the play first premiered in 1936.

“It Can’t Happen Here” was originally written as a novel by Sinclair Lewis in 1935. In 1936, Lewis adapted it into a stage version with co-writer John C. Moffitt. This version has been re-adapted multiple times for stage and radio productions, including the 2017 adaptation by Tony Taccone and Bennet S. Cohen, which KVSC will be reading from.

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to direct such a powerful and important story for my community,” said KVSC Public Affairs Programming Director Gracie J., who is directing the dramatic reading.

KVSC presented the play before, in 2016, as part of a national effort two weeks before the Presidential election. 

The play is a cautionary dark satire of the fragility of democracy and how fascism can happen in America. In this dystopian political story, the populist senator Buzz Windrip, who wins the 1936 presidential election, turns the United States into a fascist dictatorship. 

In the story, before the election, most Americans assumed fascism “can’t happen here.” However, after the election, they realize it’s already too late to stop it. The story follows a small-town Vermont newspaper editor, Doremus Jessup, as he watches Windrip transform the U.S. in a matter of months. 

Audience members will watch as everyone who speaks, writes, or protests against the government starts to disappear, which pushes Jesssup to make a decision on how he and his newspaper, the Daily Informer, can contribute to the fight for democracy. 

Volunteers and KVSC staff, as well as St. Cloud community members, SCSU students, and alumni, are performing in the dramatic reading. 

The reading will take place at the Red Carpet in St. Cloud, located at 11 5th Avenue South, on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the show starts at 7:00 p.m. This is a free event to attend for all ages. 

Cast list: 

• Basil Harrington 
• Beck Christensen
• Brian Moos, Delaney Lund
• Emily Ramsey
• Gabriel Ryland
• Jay Terry
• Jim McConnel
• Keegan Herbek
• Rickie Bruno
• Shay Lelonek
• Spike Orgal
• Taylor Stelten
• Timm Vedder