Rockland, MAINE, October 3, 2017: The Everyman Repertory Theatre will present Bertolt Brecht's Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, the first show in its 10th season, at the Bicknell Building in Rockland, opening on 27 October and running through the 11 November. Described by Brecht as "a gangster play that would recall certain events familiar to us all," Arturo Ui is a witty and savage satire on the rise of Hitler – recast by Brecht into a fictional, small-time Chicago gangster's takeover of the city's greengrocery trade in the 1930s. The satirical allegory combines Brecht's Epic style of theatre with black comedy and outright farce.

Brecht cleverly uses parodies of American gangster culture – from Al Capone, through Jimmy Cagney and Edward G. Robinson. The play also pulls familiar references to Shakespeare, and even Goethe's Faust. He filters through all these styles the historical events surrounding the rise of the Nazi party in the 1930s, which continues to be relevant today. "It's a remarkably prescient piece, with everything from show trials, political rallies, attacks on the press, corruption, graft," said the show's director, Paul Hodgson, "it could have been written yesterday. Thinking about the current state of democracy in America, it's very valuable to look at the impact of totalitarianism and the rise of demagogues in Europe in the 1930s."

"We're putting the play on at the Bicknell Building, the former manufacturing supply company in the docks area in Rockland, which is the perfect setting for the raw energy, and outrageous parody and humor of the play," said Hodgson. "We are also working with Natasha Mayers of ARRT!, the Artists' Rapid Response Team, who has painted some amazing images for the show which, unlike in Brecht's time when they would have been processed across the stage as banners, we will be projecting onto a screen above the stage."

The play features a large cast, including Lucinda Ziesing, Nicole Provonsil, David Greenham, David Troup, Annie Howell, Ryan Jackson, Andrea Itkin, Jennifer Hodgson, Scott Anthony Smith, Jim Reitz and Dagney Ernest. The show is stage managed by Karina Shorten, with lighting by Tom Sadowski and Debra Stokes, stage design by John Bielenberg and costume design by Tessa Kingsley.

The show is supported by the Maine Holocaust and Human Rights Center, the Maine Arts Commission, The Davis Family Foundation, the Cricket Foundation and the Maine Community Foundation.

Tickets for the show are $20 for adults and $10 for students and may be purchased at Rock City Cafe, the Grasshopper Shop, Left Bank Books and Zoots Coffee, or by visiting www.everymanrep.org/box-office or by calling 207-236-0173.

The Everyman Repertory Theatre, founded in 2008, is a registered 501(c)3, not-for-profit theatre company committed to bringing live, professional theatre to the people of Midcoast Maine.