Pulitzer-winning 'Wife' staged by SLAC

Prior to the spring of 2005, playwright Doug Wright (not to be confused with the local radio personality of the same name) was best known for the regional drama "Quills" and his adaptation of the script for a Hollywood film.

Then "I Am My Own Wife" opened in New York City and quickly accumulated nearly 15 major theater awards, including the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for drama, and Tony Awards for the play and best actor (Jefferson Mays).

It was a project that Wright had been working on for more than 10 years, including the development process at the Sundance Playwriting Lab.

Following months of intensive research in Berlin, Wright's script was completed during 2000 at two Sundance Institute-related workshops -- the Playwright's Retreat at UCross and the Theatre Lab in Provo Canyon.

Now, Salt Lake Acting Company is producing its own regional version of the Broadway hit as a "bonus" during the 2005-06 season - - outside of SLAC's regular subscription series.

Keven Myhre, SLAC's producing director and resident designer, is directing the acclaimed piece, with David Spencer as the sole actor playing nearly 40 roles.

The central character is Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, an infamous German transvestite who had survived both Hitler's Nazi gestapo and the East German Stasi secret-police regimes while masquerading as a woman.

Charlotte was born Lothar Berfelde in 1928 (some sources list the birth date as 1930). He grew up in a home where his alcoholic father allegedly brutally abused both the boy and his mother. Seeking solace from a lesbian aunt and a gay uncle, Lothar dubbed himself Charlotte after his cross-dressing aunt's lover.

Spencer has never done a one-person play before. "It's a whole new experience, being out there by yourself," he told the Deseret Morning News. "I worried about that a bit, but, you know, it's the nature of the piece."

"The script has to be so organic," said Spencer, "so much a part of you that when you're out there (onstage) and something goes out of your head, some part of your body brings it back to you. I've been working on the lines for about four months. Now we're working on telling the story."

Myhre noted that Wright got the idea for the play from one of his friends, who was living in Berlin at the time. "It took Wright two years before he actually made the trip to Berlin to visit Charlotte's antique museum, then go back to meet her personally. He had to let the story brew for awhile, then it took another 10 years to get it written, following confrontations with internal conflict and writer's block. He initially had 500 pages of transcripts.

"There are a lot of twists and turns in the story -- who Charlotte is and isn't -- so Wright put himself into the story to get different points of view."

Spencer said that there are nearly 40 characters in the play. "I call anyone with just one line of dialogue a character, but there are six or seven major characters."

"There are times," said Myhre, "when David is creating three characters within one conversation."

Spencer quickly added that "talking to myself is normal, but now the voices are loud.

"The playwright putting himself into the play as one of the characters helps focus on establishing the truth. As Wright started to gather all of this information about this real person, there was this amazing story about Charlotte living through the Nazi and Stasi periods, and the Cold War, as an openly gay person -- a man dressed as a woman living in East Germany."

Wright's massive collection of transcripts included several inconsistencies and blatant contradictions. According to an interview in the London Guardian, Wright said, "There is grave doubt that Charlotte's dramatic tale of patricide is true."

Charlotte claimed that she ended her father's abuse by beating him to death with a rolling pin in 1945 -- but German records indicate Herr Berfelde died in 1943, two years earlier. Another report substitutes a revolver handle for the rolling pin. There are also conflicting reports on her association with Stasi, the German secret police. Not only was she spied on, she was also a spy.

Charlotte died in April 2002 and never saw Wright's drama, which gave her story a worldwide audience.

And during January it will have a Utah audience as well.

Myhre is also designing the scenery (the basic setting is Charlotte's antique store in Berlin), with costume design by K.L. Alberts.

Note: With the recent razing of Washington Elementary, that parking lot is no longer available. Most parking near the theater is only on the street .

If you go . . .

What: "I Am My Own Wife"

Where: Salt Lake Acting Company, 168 W. 500 North

When: Tuesday through Jan. 29

How much: $30 (no discounts)

Phone: 355-2787 or 363-7522

Web site: www.arttix.org

E-mail: ivan@desnews.com

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