Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for DramaFrom 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).
Doug Wright's Quills received the 1995 Kesselring Prize for Best New American Play from the National Arts Club and a 1995 Village Voice Obie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting. Wright also wrote the screenplay adaptation of Quills, making his motion picture debut. The film was named Best Picture by the National Board of Review and was also nominated for three Oscars. Some of Wright's other plays include Interrogating the Nude, Watbanaland, The Stonewater Rapture, Dinosaurs, and a musical, Buzzsaw Berkeley, which features songs by Michael John LaChiusa.
Wright has a bachelor's degree from Yale University and an M.F.A. from NYU. A member of the Dramatists Guild and the New York Theatre Workshop, he has taught playwriting at NYU and Princeton University. Wright is also the 2004 recipient of the Benjamin H. Danks Award, presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters to encourage a young writer of non-fiction, fiction, or poetry. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Drama/Theater I Am My Own Wife is a tour-de-force one-man show that explores, through the emergence of forty different characters, the extraordinary true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. An East Berlin transvestite and celebrated collector of Wilhelm II antiques, von Mahlsdorf successfully navigated the two most oppressive regimes of the twentieth centurythe Nazis and the Communistswhile openly gay and defiantly in drag, and was, incredibly, distinguished with Germany's Order of Merit after the wall came down. But controversy hounded her final years in the form of accusations of complicity with the Stasi, and the facts behind Charlotte's remarkable survival may never be known.
In exploring his own conflicted feelings about Charlottewas she a hero of a queer history or Judas in a black dress and pearls?Doug Wright has produced a profound and dynamic work that, as Hedy Wiess noted in the Chicago Sun-Times, is "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." Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
"I Am My Own Wife is the most stirring new work to appear on Broadway this fall [2003]. With nothing to recommend it but a story that is both moving and intellectually absorbing, a staging that is both careful and lovely and a performance that is a true tour de force, we should all hope that theatergoers prove that it belongs there . . . Fascinating and beautifully written."Bruce Weber, The New York Times "I Am My Own Wife is the most stirring new work to appear on Broadway this fall [2003]. With nothing to recommend it but a story that is both moving and intellectually absorbing, a staging that is both careful and lovely and a performance that is a true tour de force, we should all hope that theatergoers prove that it belongs there . . . Fascinating and beautifully written."Bruce Weber, The New York Times
"A remarkable piece of political theater . . . Like Tony Kushner, [Doug Wright] has found a way to use his gay identity as a universal criticism of life."Robert Brustein, The New Republic
"The dramatic event of [2003] . . . Marvelous . . . Wright [has] deftly and poetically captured the outré, complex, and courageous person [at the heart of this play] . . . Amazing."Donald Lyons, New York Post
"A play of considerable moral gravity . . . Outstanding."Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal
"Astonishing . . . An altogether fascinating biography."Linda Winer, Newsday
"Anyone who cares about theater will want to see I Am My Own Wife . . . An exquisite collaboration among playwright Doug Wright, director Moisés Kaufman, and the remarkable Jefferson Mays."Don Shewey, The Advocate
Synopsis
I Am My Own Wife is the 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).
About the Author
Doug Wright's
Quills received the 1995 Kesselring Prize for Best New American Play from the National Arts Club and a 1995
Village Voice Obie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting. Wright also wrote the screenplay adaptation of
Quills, making his motion picture debut. The film was named Best Picture by the National Board of Review and was also nominated for three Oscars. Some of Wright's other plays include
Interrogating the Nude,
Watbanaland,
The Stonewater Rapture,
Dinosaurs, and a musical,
Buzzsaw Berkeley, which features songs by Michael John LaChiusa. Wright has a bachelor's degree from Yale University and an M.F.A. from NYU. A member of the Dramatists Guild and the New York Theatre Workshop, he has taught playwriting at NYU and Princeton University.