Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama From the Obie Award-winning author of Quills comes this acclaimed one-man show, which explores the astonishing true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. A transvestite and celebrated antiques dealer who successfully navigated the two most oppressive regimes of the past century-the Nazis and the Communists--while openly gay and defiantly in drag, von Mahlsdorf was both hailed as a cultural hero and accused of colluding with the Stasi. In an attempt to discern the truth about Charlotte, Doug Wright has written "at once a vivid portrait of Germany in the second half of the twentieth century, a morally complex tale about what it can take to be a survivor, and an intriguing meditation on everything from the obsession with collecting to the passage of time" (Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times).
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Bag Lady to the Stars:
All the power to Mr. Wright. After all, it 's not everyone that can hit a home run on Broadway. God bless him. And it is a fascinating little story, of a transsexual in drag who outwits the German Gestapo and the Stasi, living finally to triumph as a post-modern icon of perverse longevity in a land of forgotten heroes, mysterious deaths and torture chambers. One would love to know the true story of this so-called 'survivor.' Whose lap was she/he sitting on? The play itself is a long drag, a monologue... more info
A True Story of Survival and Identity:
I was first introduced to this play by a local theatre group, one of the first in the US to debut it and was absolutely blown away by the subject matter as well as the performance. Charlotte's life story told by Doug through various intermediate characters all while wearing a black dress, is a story that should be shared. Not only is this a story about sexuality, but it is more importantly about survival and how we change our identities to do so.
Interesting:
This is an autobiography of Charlotte, a transvestite German, written in a play format like the works of Shakespeare. This work won a Pulitzer Prize the year it came out, and so I read it thinking it would be interesting. I am not sure what to think of it still, or even whether Charlotte is a man acting like a woman, or the other way around. The play is about the life of Charlotte, a person born in Germany before World War II. (S)he grows up in an abusive family, and kills his own father while still a... more info
Be your own wife . . . but be someone else's as well!:
"I am my Own Wife" is the new play (2004) by Doug Wright (screenplay writer of Quills) based on his interviews and friendship with the late gay German crossdressed hausfrau, Lothar Berfelde, better known as Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf. A magnificent one-man show that mesmerized Broadway, actor Jefferson Mays played thirty-five separate characters. The title comes from 40-year-old Charlotte's answer to his mother's clueless plea "don't you think it's time you settled down and found a wife?": "But, Mutti,... more info
