Local Thespian Pens Post-Apocalyptic Novel...But You Won't Recognize the Author's Name

Michael Muckian, Shepherd Express

The late Alan Rickman, an actor perhaps best known for playing Professor Snape in the “Harry Potter” film series, once said that actors are “agents of change,” noting that a film, a play, a piece of music, or even a book can make a difference and, possibly, change the world for the better.

James DeVita, a core acting company member of American Players Theater in Spring Green, knows that to be true. Or, at least, he hopes so, having played many of Shakespeare’s leading characters, some multiple times, at APT over the past 32 years. During that same period, he has been trying to stack his deck as writer, turning out numerous young adult books and plays, including adaptions of 17 classics for First Stage, Milwaukee’s nationally acclaimed children’s theater. Suffice to say, he has kept a busy artistic schedule trying to make a difference.

DeVita’s latest book entitled Sanctuary (Penguin Random House) take a very different spin. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the book’s protagonist, a billionaire, flees with his entourage to an underground mansion he has constructed in a former government missile silo somewhere in the Nebraska plains. The billionaire’s moral crisis centers on what to do with the people outside who come to his door seeking safety. The publisher called the work “prescient” of today’s condition, despite the fact that it was written three years ago.

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