I Am My Own Wife Study Guide

I Am My Own Wife Plot Summary

Preview of I Am My Own Wife Summary:

Doug Wright, successful playwright, is introduced to the idea of writing a play about a transvestite named Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. Charlotte, now in her sixties, survived as a transvestite during the Nazi regime and then during the rise and fall of communism. The play is a one-man show, so one person plays all forty characters. This lends an interesting perspective, as all characters, from Doug Wright himself down to a Stasi official, are acted out in the costume of Charlotte.

During the first act, Doug contacts Charlotte at the suggestion of his friend John, a reporter for U.S. News & World Report. After gaining permission from Charlotte to tell her story, Doug travels to Germany to meet her. What follows is a series of interviews and memories, interspersed throughout with Doug's own thoughts and observations. The audience sees Charlotte in the various stages of her life, from her youth to...
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