Review: I AM MY OWN WIFE at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre

The can’t miss Milwaukee Chamber Theaters production of I Am My Own Wife is a constant revelation – but perhaps the most unexpected thing  is how much joy is expressed in this complex true story.

I Am My Own Wife is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Doug Wright about the life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a trans woman in East Germany who amazingly survived both the Nazi and Communist regimes.  Wright writes himself into the story as a playwright determined to tell Charlotte’s story

Wright’s one-person play relies on a single actor who portrays dozens of characters, including Charlotte and the playwright himself. 

For the chamber production — directed by Alexander Coddington — that actor is the astounding Jonathan Riker.

Riker portrays the different characters almost entirely in Charlotte’s clothes, the character shifts are created solely through changes in accent and expression.

Charlotte is a passionate antiques collector who preserved countless Weimar and Jewish cultural artifacts in her home /museum in East Berlin. It’s her in devotion to her collection that the play finds much of its joy.

Riker grabs the audience’s hearts and minds from the first minute – and never lets them go. As Charlotte’s story wraps up, that director Coddington packs the final emotional punch.