In early 1993, playwright Doug Wright visited Mahlsdorf, Germany, to interview Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who curated a trove of items from various points in time throughout German history. His interviews (and his own fascination with) von Mahlsdorf eventually evolved into I Am My Own Wife, a “tour de force” one-man show in which a singular actor portrays 35 different characters, including of course von Mahlsdorf herself. Von Mahlsdorf and her story are in many ways tailor-made for the theatre: she is an eccentric outsider who survived both the Nazi and Communist regimes as a transgender woman. I Am My Own Wife is Wright’s magnum opus and won him both the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The one-man play is a breathtaking journey through Charlotte’s life, primarily focusing on her experiences during the Communist regime of East Germany and the controversy that surrounded her following revelations that she was a spy for that very regime. But, like Charlotte herself, her story is complicated. The play is as much about a writer’s fascination with his subject as it is his subject itself. Through 35 different characters, Wright unravels Charlotte’s history with the richness of a historian and the theatrical potency of a seasoned playwright, while leaving the ambiguity of her story intact.
I Am My Own Wife guide sections
