by Charlsie-Kern Kruger

Doug Wright’s play, “I Am My Own Wife” has a distinguished history. In 2004, the Broadway production garnered Tony awards for best play and best lead actor as well as a Tony nomination for best direction and a Pulitzer nomination. In short, it is a play to be taken seriously.

The play is a solo piece and the character presented is Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a consequential and controversial figure in the history of gay liberation in Berlin. Charlotte was a transgender woman who became known as a “character” in East Berlin after World War II. A creative person, she founded and curated the Grunderzeit Museum of household items. She lived in the museum and provided tours for visitors. Her gender variance made her a figure of wonder and admiration. In 1992, filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim released a biopic, “I Am My Own Woman” which brought her fame in the LGBTQ community.  The museum became a meeting place for the gay commnity and von Mahlsdorf  became much admired for having lived on her own terms while surviving through the Nazi years and under Communist rule in East Berlin.

She survived, but not without controversy. After she received an award from the LGBTQ for a lifetime of out front living, some disturbing facts were uncovered. As a youngster, she had begun her collection of furniture and fine household items with absconded items from the abandoned homes of arrested Jews. Years later, living in East Germany, she was an informant for the STASSI, the Secret Police. Her reputation suffered. Some defended her, saying she was an admirable surviver who did what she had to do during difficult times and deserved forgiveness. She was, they said, “one of our own.” Others were angry and appalled and wanted nothing to do with her. The controversy was sufficiently difficult that she left the country.

Doug Wright’s play presents her history and also the history of the playwright’s gradual realization of the many contradictions her life presented, and the ambivalent feelings they brought up.

In Michael Socreates Moran’s highly original staging of “I Am My Own Wife” it is the ambivalence that takes front and center. Charlotte tells her story at home in her beloved museum. But rather than a beautiful museum setting, this production offers an entirely white stage, with furniture and fixtures appearing at odd and disturbing angles. Props are not beautiful antiques, but solid white and abstracted objects, stripped of beauty and sentiment. The starkness of the environment in which Charlotte recollects her beloved museum forces the viewer to consider the truth in the story told, and seek deeper meanings. This abstracted state of mind is further developed by having the audience listen to the entire performance with headsets, which would appear to be unnecessary. The headsets glow with an eerie green light, and, looking at the white stage and the audiences surroundg it on all sides wearing these bizarre accoutrements, the effect is puzzling. At first.

In my case, I gradually realized that the audience members, in our headsets, were like tribunals being called to judge the life story being presented. We were being forced to decide how we felt about this interesting person, charming, artistic, with a questionable history. I found myself thinking of Leni Riefenstahl, the brilliant and indubitably charming German filmmaker who willingly created propaganda for Hitler. The headsets cut me off from deep sympathy with the narration, as if Charlotte was speaking in a foreign language.

Renee Mannequin offers a versatile performance as Charlotte. She is always interesting, often humorous, and brings to life additional characters with ease. She is appropriately distant, emotionally, consistent with the approach taken by this production.

For me, seeing “I Am My Own Wife,” was a highly unusual experience, in that my initial reaction was extremely negative. I did not understand the headphones or the peculiar setting, and was put off by the character of Charlotte. I left the theatre thinking, “Why was this rather unpleasant woman with seedy ethics worthy of being celebrated in a play?” I was not enthusiastic.

But put the emphasis on, “I left the theatre thinking.” As I continued to think, I felt compelled to explain what I’d seen and as I put the pieces together, and considered the unsual staging, my opinion of the production rose higher and higher until, in memory, I found it fascinating even though my initial reaction was dismissive.

I recommend it as an unusual piece of theatre, expertly rendered, and exceptionally thought provoking.

“I Am My Own Wife” continues at Oakland Theater Project through April 6, 2025. For further information, click here.

_________________________________

Rating: *** (For an explanation of TheatreStorm’s rating system, click here.)
_________________________________

“I Am My Own Wife” by Doug Wright. Produced by Oakland Theater Project. Director: Michael Socrates Moran. Set Designer: Sam Fehr. Lighting Designer: Sam Fehr. Sound Designer: Ashley Munday. Projection Designer: Michael Kelly.

Cast:

Charlotte  von Mahlsdorf/various other characters: Renee Mannequin