Poet, playwright and theater director Bertolt Brecht was born on February 10, 1898 in Augsburg (Bavaria), and studied at the universities of Munich and Berlin. His early works show the influence of Expressionism, the dominant aesthetic movement of the time. In collaboration with Kurt Weill wrote the musical drama opera two cents, which became the most important theatrical success of Brecht and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, a ruthless critique of the capitalist order. During this early period of his career, Brecht began to develop his famous dramatic technique known as "epic theater". In 1933, after the rise of Hitler, he was forced to flee Germany, living first in Scandinavia and finally settling in California (USA) in 1941 From its production in exile should be mentioned the works of Galileo Galilei Life (1938-1939), Mother Courage and Her Children (1941), and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1944-1945). In 1948, Brecht returned to Germany and settled in East Berlin, where he founded his own theater company, the Berliner Ensemble. He died on August 14, 1956.