Southern Rep Presents I AM MY OWN WIFE 11/4-12/6 at Canal Place

Southern Rep, the region's premiere professional theatre, joins with the acclaimed All Kinds of Theatre (AKT) to produce the regional premiere of Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner I AM MY OWN WIFE by Doug Wright, which runs November 4 - December 6, 2009 at Canal Place.

Previews: November 4 - 6 at 8 p.m., $21.00. Opening Night is Saturday, November 7 at 8 p.m. with a post-performance reception, $35.00. Performances continue Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m., except Thanksgiving week (no performances November 26 - 29). Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased at (504) 522-6545 or www.southernrep.com.

$10 Student Rush tickets are available 15 minutes before curtain on a cash-only basis, with student ID.

The play is the hauntingly complex true tale of the quietly dignified Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a German transvestite who not only outwitted the Nazis and Communists, but could also spot a priceless antique at 100 yards. Playwright Doug Wright spent ten years interviewing Charlotte and developing this play. For Charlotte collected antiques from abandoned or bombed houses, enough to turn her East Berlin home into a museum, and transform the basement into a salon and haven for gay artists and intellectuals struggling to survive under the repressive regime. She received the Medal of Honor from the reunified German government for preserving antiques and culture. But before her life was over, all of her life story would be called into question. Yet this is not a story about being gay, not a story about being a cross-dresser and not a story about cold war politics. It is a story about survival and one astounding person. And, by the way, it's funny, too.
The press has been effusive in its praise, calling the play a "rich, riveting and thrilling mystery" (Newsday) and "astonishing and extraordinary" (NY Daily News). The Washington Post warned "Don't even think of missing it" while The New York Times named I AM MY OWN WIFE "the most exquisite offering on Broadway."

This play requires a skilled director and an equally talented actor giving a tour de force performance. Both jobs are expertly covered with Carl Walker directing and Bob Edes, Jr. starring as Charlotte and 34 other characters.

Carl Walker, the celebrated director, playwright, and Artistic Director of AKT, helmed the most recent collaboration between Southern Rep and AKT, the award-winning production of DOUBT, which was called "flawless" (Al Shea) and "powerful, polished, thoroughly professional theater that fairly demands to be seen" (Times Picayune). Among his myriad successes are The Last Madam, Where The Girls Were, Three Tall Women, Native Tongues 1 - 4 and Class Of 70something. Carl has directed 50something shows in the Gulf South. His productions consistently garner Big Easy and Storer Boone Theatre Awards.

Walker calls I AM MY OWN WIFE a "one-woman play performed by an actor," which encapsulates the paradox and mystery of the story. "How did this intriguing character emerge and survive against all odds? A large part of the play is about the ultimate truth of her life. The audience is asked to consider her life in the whole from start to finish."

Audiences have enjoyed Bob Edes, Jr. in Southern Rep's Sick, The Clean House and The Breach, and will see him again this season in SRT's production of Opus. His work with AKT includes Dirty Blonde (Big Easy Award), Native Tongues 4 and Short Takes. At Le Chat Noir, Bob appeared in My-O-My, written and directed by Carl Walker. Bob has brought down the house in Running with Scissors shows including Die! Mommy! Die! and Grenadine McGunkle's Double-Wide Christmas, while also gracing stages across the region in varied pieces such as Cabaret, Annie, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Doug Wright was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award, the GLAAD Media Award, the Drama League Award, and the Lucille Lortel Award for I AM MY OWN WIFE. He also received Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his book for the hit Broadway musical Grey Gardens (to be co-produced by SRT and Le Petit Theatre later this season). Among many other plays, Wright penned the Obie Award-winning Quills which he adapted for film, earning three Academy Awards.

The I AM MY OWN WIFE all-local design team includes scenic designer David Raphel, lighting designer Marty Sachs, costume designer Elizabeth Parent, and sound designer Jeffrey Talbot. The production stage manager is Sarah Z. Singleton.

Southern Rep is conveniently located on the 3rd floor of the Shops at Canal Place, on The Edge of the French Quarter. Validated parking is available. For more information call (504) 522-6545, or visit www.southernrep.com.

Founded in 1988 by Artistic Director Carl Walker, All Kinds of Theatre is the oldest professional producing group in New Orleans. Operating with the highest artistic standards, AKT is committed to both the production of important contemporary plays and musicals, and the development of new works by New Orleans writers. AKT's celebrated productions have embraced a wide spectrum of award-winning works.

With this new Season, Southern Rep celebrates 23 years of excellence, developing and producing new plays which provide audiences with professional theatre of the highest artistic quality and achievement and establishing a creative working environment that nurtures theatre professionals. As New Orleans' premiere professional theatre, Southern Rep strives to use the artistry of theatre to enlighten, educate, and entertain audiences, and aims to extend that servIce Through educational and outreach programs.