Acclaimed Adaptation Of 'The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui' Makes Bay Area Premiere

Multi award-winning Foothill Theatre Arts presents Bertolt Brecht's satirical masterpiece about the rise of a demagogue, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, in a stunning new adaption by Pulitzer, Olivier and Tony Award-winning American playwright, Bruce Norris (Clybourne Park) making its Bay Area premiere. Director Bruce McLeod invites audiences into a seedy 1930s Chicago cabaret for this production, presented three weeks only November 8 - 24, 2019 (press opening: Saturday, November 9) at the Lohman Theatre, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills. Contains mature language. Parental discretion advised. Tickets ($5 - $20) and information are available at www.foothill.edu/theater or by calling (650) 949-7360.

Debuted last year at London's acclaimed Donmar Warehouse Theatre, this vibrant version was lauded as "a tremendous new adaptation by Bruce Norris" by The Guardian, which went on to declare ""Brecht's anti-fascist study of political power hits home. Magnificent. Exuberant." Subtitled "A parable play", Brecht's spoof slyly chronicles the rise of a risible buffoon, a fictional bumbling small-time crook in 1930s Chicago who sees opportunities to amass power. Offering a better world for his cowed followers, Ui blithely employs bribery and corruption on his stunning and unexpected climb to the top. At one point engaging a washed-up Shakespearean actor for locution tips, the tawdry gangster borrows tips from epic theatrical villains including Richard III and Macbeth in his inexorable quest for supreme authority.

Written while Brecht was a refugee banned from his native Germany and awaiting immigration to the US, the play was created as a satirical allegory of the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany prior to WWII and intended specifically for an American audience. Although penned in 1941, The New Yorker noted a 2018 revival Off-Broadway "couldn't be more timely."

To assist with creating an experiential setting, audience members ordering tickets in the Audience Left or Right section will be seated in a special cabaret seating section and receive a complimentary non-alcoholic drink in a logo cup to take home.

Foothill Theatre Arts has assembled a powerhouse cast for this entertaining thought-provoking drama including professionals drawn from the greater Bay Area, as well as students from Foothill College. The cast includes Anthony Silk (Arturo Ui), Margaret Allen (Betty Dullfeet, Sheet, and Actor), Denna Basto (Dockdaisy), Kathy Blumfeld (Evelyn O'Casey), Dominic Dee (Gangster), Chayenne Greenberg (Ragg), Parker Hough (Caruther), Seth Goyal (Manny Giri), Asher Krohn (Ernesto Roma), Emma Rose Le (Young Dogsborough) Jessica Lopang (Flake, Public Defender), Rafael Luna (Bodyguard), George Mauro (Dogsborough), Hannah Milon (Inna), Teddy Pagee (Clark), Mark Rosen (Ignatius Dullfeet), Miles Cook (Giovanni Givola), Brittany Williams (Butcher).

Director Bruce McLeod joined the Foothill College Theatre Arts department in 2007 for the opening of the Lohman Theatre. He is responsible for the Theatre Technology Program and serves as the department's Production Manager and Technical Director. He has worked professionally at many theatres including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and was the first technical director and production manager for TheatreWorks, where he oversaw site-specific productions of Cabaret (downtown Fire Station, now Avenidas), Macbeth (Baylands Nature Center) and Everyman (various churches). He also boasts a long career as a set and lighting designer in the Bay Area including work with Center Rep, West Bay Opera, Magic Theatre, Eureka Theatre and TheatreWorks. Several of his set designs have received recognition, including the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Sunday in the Park with George and a Theatre Bay Area nomination for the recent Marry Me A Little at TheatreWorks. At Foothill he has directed critically acclaimed productions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Our Town, It Can't Happen Here, and She Kills Monsters.

This production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui will feature scenic design by Lynn Grant and lighting design by Dan Wadleigh.

Tickets available at: https://foothill.edu/theatre or by phone at (650) 949-7360

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