I Am My Own Wife
Tickets and Information

OVERVIEW TICKETS SCHEDULE CAST PHOTOS VIDEO

SHOW INFORMATION

This show has not yet been rated.

CURRENTLY CLOSED
Opened Dec 3, 2003
Closed Oct 31, 2004

Playing at
Lyceum Theatre

Directions & Map

Running Time:
2hr. 0min.
(includes 1 intermission)

TICKETS TO THIS SHOW BUY TICKETS CHECK FOR DISCOUNTS

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

Winner of two 2004 Tony Awards for Best Play and Leading Actor in a Play (Jefferson Mays).

Based on a true story, and inspired by interviews conducted by the playwright over several years, I Am My Own Wife tells the fascinating tale of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a real-life German transvestite who managed to survive both the Nazi onslaught and the following, repressive Communist regime. The one-man play by Doug Wright stars Jefferson Mays as a host of characters, including the controversial figure herself and an American writer who becomes intrigued by her. Moisés Kaufman directs.

Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2004 Drama League Award for Distinguished Production of a Play, the 2004 Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Solo Performance, the 2004 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show, and 2004 Obie Awards for Mays and director Moisés Kaufman.

THEATER/VENUE INFORMATION:

Lyceum Theatre
149 W 45th St
New York, NY 10036

Built in 1903 by Daniel Frohman, the Lyceum is the oldest Broadway theater in New York. The architect had an apartment over the stage where he could keep an eye on the action. The Great Depression forced Frohman into bankruptcy. He sold the theate [...] Read More

WHAT ARE CRITICS SAYING?

[Reviewer's Note: Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife, which had its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons on May 28, 2003 after workshops at the La Jolla Playhouse and Chicago's About Face Theatre, has transferred to Broadway's Lyceum. The move represents faith in a quality theater piece on the part of the producers and it deserves to pay off, but whether this show will appeal to the tourist trade required for success on the Great White Way remains to be seen.

The production seems almost totally unchanged from its former incarnation. Jefferson Mays, playing 35 characters and most amazingly an East Berlin transvestite calling him/herself Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, gives as thrilling a performan[...]

» Read More

Reviewed by David Finkle on Dec 4, 2003

Doug Wright was first alerted to Charlotte von Mahlsdorf in 1990 by his friend John Marks, at the time the U.S. News and World Report bureau chief in Germany. Marks knew that his playwright pal liked mining other people's stories for his work. The direct quote from Marks on the character he'd learned about after the Berlin wall fell: "She's way up your alley."

Marks was right, and now we have the result of his heads-up. It's I Am My Own Wife, subtitled "Studies for a Play About the Life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf," and it's also way up the alley of anyone interested in superlative theater.

You can forget about that "Studies for a Play" part, which Wright seems to have appended as a hand[...]

» Read More

Reviewed by David Finkle on May 28, 2003