I Am My Own Wife

Inspired by interviews conducted by playwright Doug Wright over several years, I Am My Own Wife tells the fascinating true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a German transvestite who managed to survive living openly as a cross-dresser since the age of 16. She accomplished this under the twentieth Century’s two most repressive, conformist regimes- the Third Reich and the Communists. The play is a striking solo performance portraying more than three-dozen characters, including the controversial figure herself and the American writer who became intrigued, disillusioned and impassioned by her. The playwright explains, "I’m drawn to characters who wilfully, even gleefully, thwart the status quo; outsiders who subvert or expose their surroundings in a way that’s entertaining, sly and arguably, moral."