During this time, he met the actor Ludwig Hartau in Berlin in the role of “newspaper publisher Dr. Schön” in the tragedy Der Erdgeist by Frank Wedekind.
With financial support from his father (100,000 gold marks), Aufricht leased the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, renovated it and ran it as director until the end of the 1931 season.
After just four weeks of rehearsals, he opened his theater on 31 August 1928 with the world premiere of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera.
Erich Engel (director), Theo Mackeben (rehearsing the songs) and Caspar Neher (stage design) also played their part in the overwhelming success.
[2] Aufrichte had an art collection that included works from Alexej Jawlensky,[3] Georg Grosz,[4] Peter August Böckstiegel[5] and many other artists.
It was only when he rented the Théâtre de l'Étoile for the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris and staged the Threepenny Opera in French translation that he enjoyed a small measure of success.
During the creation of these radio plays, Aufricht made the acquaintance of Father Benno Aichinger, the former Superior General of the Capuchin Order.