I Am My Own Wife

Act One

1: A Lecture on the Phonograph In a square room with white French doors, a table, and four neo-Gothic chairs, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf speaks to the audience, briefly describing the history of her prized Edison phonograph. She plays a record, marveling at the sound it makes on the machine and describing how she used to play British and American records during World War 2, hoping that the pilots flying war planes overhead would hear the music and be her friend. Charlotte is a German transgender woman who has spent much of her life collecting everyday artifacts from the time of the German Empire, or the Grunderzeit period, during the 1870s. Charlotte is the central character in the play and is played by a male actor, who also plays all of the other 34 characters.

2: The World Flips Upside Down The actor becomes John Marks, the Berlin bureau chief for U.S. News and World Report. He is an old-school newsman from the midwest and writes a letter to his friend, American playwright