Being a guy in a dress has never been a particularly easy thing, and yet, one German man, living (and dressing) as Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf, managed to survive both Nazi party rule and the repressive East German Communist regime in Berlin. Doug Wright transformed this true tale into the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning solo drama, I Am My Own Wife, which premiered Off-Broadway in 2003 at Playwright’s Horizons. This year, The Gulfshore Playhouse will produce Wright’s work from January 18 February 3.
The company’s founder and producing artistic director Kristen Conry will direct the piece which will star frequent off-Broadway performer, Kraig Swartz (The Mint’s The Voysey Inheritance), who will assume over 30 roles in the show.
Swartz has won two Barrymore Awards. One for another one-man show, Fully Committed, and one for his work in Take Me Out, both of which were Philadelphia Theatre Company productions. His New York credits include The Madras House, So Help Me God, and Tartuffe.
In addition to I Am My Own Wife, Wright has written plays that include Quills as well as the books for the Tony-nominated musical Grey Gardens and this spring’s new musical Hands on a Hardbody.