by Maria Staiano-Daniels
Daily Lobo
Sometimes it takes many voices
to tell a story.
This is the case in the play "I Am
My Own Wife," opening Friday at
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the Vortex.
"I Am My Own Wife" uses 35
characters to explore the true story
of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a
transvestite in East Berlin during
the Nazi and Communist regimes.
Incredibly, all 35 characters are
played by one actor.
Director Lou Clark, a graduate
student in UNM's dramatic writing
program, said this unusual structure
attracted her to the play.
"I was interested in the challenge
of helping an actor develop 35 characters
onstage," she said.
Hal Simons, a graduate of UNM's
theater department and the actor in
the one-man production said this
was indeed a challenge. Simons
said he had never been in a production
like "I Am My Own Wife."
"It's been quite an adventure," he
said.
Simons worked with two vocal
coaches in order to perfect different
accents. His largest challenge
was memorizing his lines,
he said. "I Am My Own Wife" is a
full 80 pages long, taking up two
hours of stage time.
Simons said he can't pick a favorite
character out of the 35, though
he loves playing Charlotte and Charlotte's
lesbian aunt. Simons doesn't
find it especially difficult to play female
characters.
"I'm comfortable with my feminine
side," he said. "And I've got
good legs."
Clark said memorizing lines and
developing different ways of moving
and speaking was only the beginning
of character creation.
What Simons likes best about the
play, he said, is the writing.
"It tells a very complete story," he
said.
Clark admires the writing and is
impressed by the playwright's love
of his subject. She said author Doug
Wright traveled to Germany multiple
times to speak to von Mahlsdorf.
Clark empathizes on a personal
level with von Mahlsdorf, whom she
called a survivor.
"I'm drawn to the underdog," she
said.
Simons said von Mahlsdorf is
a wonderful character. He said he
hopes the audience will appreciate
her efforts to maintain her individuality
in oppressive circumstances.
He said "I Am My Own Wife" is
about more than just one person,
however amazing that one person
may be.
"In the larger sense, it's about
survival and the preservation of history,"
he said.
Simons said the play deals with
history, on national and personal
levels, that we would rather not remember.
Clark wants the play to interest Albuquerque
audiences in experimental
theater, to challenge them and expand
their ideas of what theater is.
"I hope audiences come away seeing
something they've never seen
before," she said.
Clark said audiences responded
positively to a dramatic reading of
the play she and Simons staged at
Theatre X several months ago.
Clark said she especially wants
students to see the play, adding
that it will probably appeal to history
students.
