The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a darkly comic, razor-sharp satire of Hitler’s rise to power, reimagined as the story of a small-time Chicago gangster who schemes, threatens and murders his way into control of the city’s cauliflower trade. Blending gangster drama, political farce, Shakespearean parody and biting social commentary, Brecht traces Ui’s transformation from anxious outsider to ruthless strongman — exposing how corruption, fear, opportunism and silence allow tyranny to take hold. Written as a warning that such a rise was not inevitable, this wickedly funny and chilling parable remains urgently relevant wherever authoritarianism threatens to flourish.

This production features Guest Artist and Director Dr. Budi Miller, who is an internationally recognized actor trainer, director and UNESCO-designated Master Teacher of Mask Work whose three-decade career spans Fitzmaurice Voicework, somatic performance practices, global teaching and coaching for stage and screen.