Month: February 2026

The first sentence in my title is the title of the play currently on stage at the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. The second is a paraphrase from Doug, the alter ego of playwright Doug Wright, from one of his interactions with Charlotte von Mahlsdorf in the play. Charlotte is an open transvestite living in Germany. She is an impossibility because she survived the Nazis during the Second World War and later the Soviet occupation of East Germany. She was an antiquarian, portrayed as having a particular affinity for Victrolas and other late 19th and early 20th Century music systems and mechanical clocks. And according to Wright’s play, she kept a museum of her treasures and conducted detailed tours through the 28 rooms of her museum. The items were acquired through purchase and trades but much of it salvaged during WWII and the Cold War. The story revolves around interviews between the play’s fictional Charlotte and the fictional Doug…

Charlotte’s life wasn’t an easy one by any means. First an abusive father who meets an untimely end and of course the indignities that queer people and transvestites in general experience in the mid 20th Century. All of these instances are described in detail in conversation with Doug or acted out for our benefit, sometimes in great detail, by Riker/Charlotte. So there is a lot of different contexts here. From general and specific homophobia and its changing face over 50 years and of course the antisemitism of the Nazis. This is history that 21st Century society needs to remember and guard against forever.

There is but one actor in I Am My Own Wife. And that actor is Jonathan Riker who is credited at Charlotte et al. And that is because as written, Riker plays all of the roles. Not an easy task at any time but particularly difficult here given not only the varieties of gender but the varieties of nationality. Riker is an impeccable Charlotte, the graceful moves, the lilt in her German, and the intense feeling for the music and the music machines. Oh, and a delightful German accent that clearly makes the point but without being too strict for these Midwestern ears to understand. But with a droop of the shoulders or a turn of the head, Charlotte becomes Doug the playwright and interviewer, or Doug’s friend John who ‘discovers’ Charlotte and alerts Doug to her existence, or her lesbian Tante who helps Charlotte identify her sexuality and provides support, or any number of other friends or acquaintances who are keys to the story. Going from the feminine lilting German to a very deep masculine Texas drawl would be daunting for anyone, but particularly here in the midst of a half dozen other voices. But Riker nails it and has fun with it. There is an audible chuckle in the audience the first time he makes the transition. There’s also a sly look on Riker’s face!

Director Alexander Coddington has orchestrated a very simple but inviting dance on stage for telling this involved story. How he put this all together is simply staggering…so seemingly simple…but such elaborate story telling. And kudos to Coddington for keeping Riker so focused and on track through the two hours it takes to tell this story well.

There is a second star of the show, the set. Riker works in a spare shallow space with a dining room table, two chairs, and a cabinet. But behind is a painted backdrop that resembles a paneled dining room until the lights behind are turned on…and at one time we see an elaborate bar and back bar setting that Charlotte saved from a gay bar and later a mass collection of furnishings adorned with a milieu of mantel clocks and hall clocks or simply a sitting room. Quite s stunning achievement from the scenic staff of Sarah Hunt-Frank, Adam Hastings, and Maaz Ahmed.

I was a bit late to the dance on this one: I Am My Own Wife is at the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre through February 8, 2026. Ticket information is here!

And an answer to the unasked question stuck in the back of my head: there has been an understudy performance added on Tuesday February 3rd.