Raul Esparza Sets New York Stage Return in Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

Raúl Esparza is headed back to the New York stage. The four-time Tony-nominated actor will take on the title role in Classic Stage Company's upcoming production of Bertolt Brecht’s comical yet disturbing play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Tony winner and CSC Artistic Director John Doyle will direct the previously announced staging, set to begin previews on October 30 with an opening scheduled for November 14. The play will run for a limited engagement through December 22. Tickets are now on sale.

Esparza has spent the past several years away from the New York stage playing Rafael Barba on TV's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. His numerous stage credits include Tony-nominated turns in Taboo, Company, The Homecoming and Speed-the-Plow. Earlier this year, he appeared in a star-studded concert production of Chess at the Kennedy Center.

Within a make-believe, vaudevillian portrayal of American mafia culture, the narrative of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is crafted to parallel events and individuals that brought the Third Reich to power and led them to overtake their neighbors.

Classic Stage has also announced directors of the two August Strindberg plays that will follow Arturo Ui, and perform in repertory. Mies Julie, Yaël Farber's adaptation of Miss Julie, will be directed by Shariffa Ali. The Dance of Death will be directed by Tony winner Victoria Clark. Mies Julie will begin performances January 15, 2019 and The Dance of Death will start on January 17, 2019.