She was a conspicuous cross-dresser who survived in East Berlin through both the Nazis and the Communists.
“Absolutely, utterly fascinating!” is how Mad Cow Artistic Director Alan Bruun describes the life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. Bruun directed Keith Kirkwood in I Am My Own Wife, the tour de force play that serves as a biography for this survivor.
The play, which won both the Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award in 2004, runs through Aug. 9 at Mad Cow’s very intimate Stage Right.
“She lived in the open,” states actor Kirkwood in his quiet Scottish brogue. “She worked the absolute nature of her being into every single corner of her life, in a really difficult time period.”
Polite and calculating Charlotte didn’t hide, even when being interrogated by Nazi soldiers or Russian Stasi agents.
“The amazing thing about Charlotte von Mahlsdorf was her absolute awareness of who she was and her steadfastness in maintaining that, no matter what. That fierce individuality made her almost invulnerable,” marvels Bruun.
Charlotte even took over ran a gay bar, secretly operating it in the basement of her museum under the noses of the Russians durng their occupation of Berlin.
“This was person living in extreme circumstances, and she didn’t care what people thought at all,” Kirkwood says. “I am sometimes guarded about my own sexuality, depending on the company I’m with… not that I’m closeted. Charlotte, in a much more dangerous time, was nothing like that.”
For much of her life, well-spoken Charlotte saw herself as a “boy in girl’s clothing” or as a gay man. However, she probably didn’t see herself as a legend or source of mythology for the LGBT community. Heroism was thrust upon this wry antiques dealer after the Berlin Wall fell.
As playwright Doug Wright and others discovered, Charlotte’s life became a source of inspiration, speculation and obsession for many people, both within the LGBT community and beyond. She remains an intriguing persona to this day.
Playing her—as well as over 40 other characters on Mad Cow’s small stage—is not an easy task.
“Back around Christmas, when Alan asked me to take a look at the script, I was frankly overwhelmed,” Kirkwood admits.
Yet he does an amazing job, quickly folding these people—their distinct voices and mannerisms—into a spellbinding story.
Of Kirkwood, Bruun waxes rapturous: “What he is able to do with a glance, with a hand gesture—changing characters in an instant—it’s amazing!”
Kirkwood completely constructs the people narrating Charlotte’s life, and he does so with minimal costume and props. The space he works in is smaller than an average living room. Mad Cow’s Stage Right seats only 50 theatergoers, allowing each audience member to experience Kirkwood’s performance of Charlotte close up.
Through his portrayal, Kirkwood shows us why Charlotte’s story is still very important to the LGBT community today, even decades removed from the Nazi regime or the Berlin Wall.
Director Bruun, who is a straight ally to the local gay community, asks the question this way: “Is my mission in life to stand outside of society and celebrate that? Or is my mission in life to be embraced by society and celebrate that?”
The question becomes vital as the LGBT community strives for marriage and adoption rights, protection for our children, and the ability to serve their country. It is also a complicated issue as those who stand out—the leather daddy waving from the parade float, or the drag queen who makes no bones about her life—are embraced by the larger LGBT community. Is the goal to assimilate, or to celebrate diversity?
“We stand at a crossroads from that standpoint,” Bruun continues. “I think that’s the interesting thing about transvestites [like Charlotte von Mahlsdorf]. The transvestite makes no bones. The transvestite has nothing in the closet except an opposing set of clothes. She lives her life completely in the open.”
I am My Own Wife portrays this power and many other aspects about Charlotte, warts and all.
“You’ve got to show the whole thing—the inconsistencies and the things that don’t quite add up,” Kirkwood advocates of his performance.
“You may end up not liking her, but you have a sense of the astonishing things she has achieved,” Bruun admits.
In this complex portrait, a couple irrefutable truths remain. This self-professed “boy in girl’s clothing,” at 16, stood up to the SS. Later, through her adulthood, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf somehow survived a brutal Communist regime.
The audience can sort out the rest of this fascinating story for themselves at Mad Cow.
What: I Am My Own Wife
Where: Mad Cow Theatre, 105 S. Magnolia Ave., Orlando.
When: 8 p.m Thursdays-Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 9; 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5.
How: For more information call 407-297-8788 or visit MadCowTheatre.com.
